Border tensions between rival samurai clans escalate into war over a hidden valley, in this fantasy epic from the breathtaking world of Legend of the Five Rings.

When the industrious but unappreciated clerk, Miya Isami, develops a new triangulation technique for mapmaking, her traditional superiors at the Imperial Cartographic Bureau scoff at her. But when her new approach uncovers a swath of missing land on the border between Scorpio and Lion Clan territory, Isami encounters something far more important than a simple map error. Her discovery offers the prospect of a solution to the seemingly endless territorial squabble between the proud, warlike lion and the secretive scorpion.

In an attempt to contain the conflict, an Imperial Treasurer sends Isami and her new insights to the backbone of the world. Yet she is far from welcome in the mountains. She must negotiate between the clans, uncover the truth, and discover the location of a hidden valley before the fragile peace is shattered by war.