Richard and Cara help a small group of villagers escape ruthless slave traders, killing the aggressors in the process. The deaths disappoint the matriarch of the victimized people, a pacifist group called the Minders. Some of them, though, are tired of turning the other cheek while they are being subjugated and slaughtered, and enlist the Seeker's aid in showing them how to protect themselves against future attacks. But Richard's attempt to teach the Minders self-defense skills unleashes their building rage, which threatens to consume them and destroy the Seeker.

Richard, Kahlan, Zedd, and Cara track down the evil Mord'Sith Denna, who took the compass needed to find the Stone of Tears. But Denna eludes them and escapes with a captive Zedd. In pursuit, Richard is suddenly crippled by a series of debilitating headaches, after which he encounters members of an order of women known as the Sisters of the Light. They reveal Richard must immediately abandon his mission to rescue Zedd and instead begin a dangerous life-changing journey, or the mysterious headaches will kill him.