But this world is hard on dreamers, whether they dream true or not. Nola is trapped in a terrible, abusive relationship with a man she once loved; Tina is an orphan who makes her living on the street. All their dreams are slowly being ground into dust.

It's a common enough tragedy, a sorrow and a grief and a shame upon the world, no matter who it happens to. But when dreams themselves die, when the great dreamers stop dreaming, whole universes of imagination are lost. And the land of Nola and Tina's dreams is fighting back.

Into their miserable everyday world soars Esprit, a winged unicorn dark as the space between the stars. He is the vessel of Nola's dreams, come to aid her in her battle with sordid reality. Following after him comes Prince Michael, whose quest it is to find the human dreamers who can save his land from ruin.