The Great War had decimated the world, killing millions and wiping out all the modern technologies of that time. After many of the survivors had died from starvation and thirst, the few remaining figured out by trial and error that if they were going to survive they needed rules.
Over eight hundred years later, nature's resources are slowly recovering, but the population has dwindled to only a handful of people. Most are suspicious and quite content to live by themselves.
To survive in this barren world, Aapeli has created a rule for every situation. He doesn't feel like he's missing anything in his life until he rescues an abandoned child from a group of crazed mountain men. Over the years the little girl shakes up his organized world by questioning all of his rules.
Liberty knows she couldn't ask for a better father but that doesn't stop her from questioning his hardheaded views. At fifteen she believes she's grown up enough and should be treated as such. But soon enough her world is shaken to the core, so much so that all she then wants to be is her father's little girl again.