Des, Casey, Raquel, and Amelia live far from the war and far from the city in a previously abandoned rural outpost, years after a mysterious weapon halved the world population. Life at the Outpost is not easy, but entirely their own, it's a quiet and maybe even nice kind of life – until the arrival of a figure from the past, a military woman named Odele; and with her a cooler full of all the hope left for the continuing of humankind. The women of the Outpost are forced to protect this endowment of biologic stock against the forces of nature, but even more against the rebel Cessationsists who would prefer to see it destroyed. Odele and Des fall in love and marry. Hopes are hoped and prayers prayed. Cessationists camps appear on the horizons. Supplies run low. As danger looms nearer and nearer, paranoia and jealousy turn shadows of trees into grabbing hands, turn misunderstanding into betrayal. In a world where so much has changed, what is still the same?