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.