In 1426, thirteen girls disappear from a village in Jeju, Joseon. A renowned investigator, Min Je-woo, travels to Jeju to investigate the disappearances, only to disappear himself. In his journal, he writes only that the victims committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, and that their bodies were buried without a chance to be examined.

The novel opens with his daughter, Min-hwan, cross-dressing and boarding a ship bound for Jeju. In her luggage is her father's journal. Someone has sent Min-hwan the charred pages of the journal. "What's on that island might kill you." Fear whispers in his mind, but Min-hwan is determined to find his father's whereabouts.

This is the first full-length novel by author Ju-eun Heo, who has been recognized as one of the world's best novels by the American Library Association and one of the most anticipated authors of 2022 by Forbes. She says that her books are "all love letters to Korean history" and that she would love nothing more than to "be sucked into a fantasy world where history comes alive as you turn the pages." "I met characters whose lives I would like to glimpse for a long time," recommends Chun Sun-ran.