In a drying prehistoric landscape, the aging Raka can no longer hold his troop in a single pattern. Tama protects the weakened Iko, Bruk discovers the leverage of controlling food, Kerr follows opportunity, Senn chooses height, and young Kael learns that force can create order before anyone understands what that order will become. Staying close to bodies, heat, hunger, touch, fear, and movement, the novel traces one social geometry breaking and another emerging before law, office, or formal institution has a name.
