The paths we choose always come with a cost. . . .

Cousins Marda and Yana Ro both belong to the Path of the Open Hand but could not be more different. The Path, led by a charismatic woman called the Mother, believes the Force must not be used by anyone, especially the Jedi. Marda embraces the Path's vision, while Yana remains skeptical. And when a Path mission to the Pilgrim Moon of Jedha erupts in violence, the two cousins find themselves more at odds than ever before.

Blaming the Jedi for the devastation on Jedha and determined to prove she deserves her place in the Path, Marda joins a perilous expedition to the fabled Planet X, in search of more mysterious creatures like the Leveler to use against the Jedi. The planet appears to be a paradise but hides horrors beneath the surface. . . .

Yana, for her part, finds herself forming an alliance with the last person she ever would have guessed: the Herald, the father of Yana's dead lover. The two will have to grudgingly work together in order to wrest the Path from the Mother's control. Two young women at the heart of the Path, bound by blood but driven apart by faith, will face a crossroads where they choose not only their own fates but that of the galaxy itself. . . .