In a valley crawling with the undead, mute teenager Jo loses her only guardian and sets out on a desperate search to find him. She crosses paths with Ezra, a boy obsessed with reviving radio broadcasts from the old world. Though his constant talking grates on her nerves, Jo and Ezra form an unlikely partnership to rebuild the valley's long-lost communication towers, hoping to unite scattered survivors and track down her guardian.

Their alliance with a traveling theater troupe leads them deeper into dangerous territory, right under the nose of General Cade and his fortress at Burning Well. Jo must confront her past as one of his captives—and the stutter she hides behind her silence—before Cade's growing empire tears the valley apart. In a world where the dead have stolen humanity's voice, rediscovering the power of connection—through radio waves, through art, through breaking silence—may be the key to survival.