In the middle of the American Second Civil War, born with a face that is half black and half white, Jetta belongs nowhere. In New Orleans, where she lives with her grandmother after her parents' death, she is believed to be a demon come to curse them all. Everywhere in the town, the blacks—or people of any color—are being persecuted and, one day, Jetta is moved by the white military and shipped outside of the city walls to live in a closed ghetto along with the rest of New Orleans' many blacks.



But Jetta is not black. She is not white either, and hiding who you really are isn't easy in a world where race defines everything.



In the ghetto, she teams up with Tyler and soon they find an escape, only to end up having to hide until they finally manage to find their way to the black-controlled territories, where they believe they might be protected from the war.



But wherever Jetta goes, all she sees is despair and division. People are fighting and soon she starts to ask questions about who she really is—and why her dead grandmother keeps following her. Next, she ventures on a journey to find her real parents and real origin and the powers given to her from them.