Siggy J. Alexie is a troubled young woman. Taken from her family as a toddler, abandoned by her adoptive mother into the foster care system as a preteen, she is haunted by a history of abandonment, abuse, and mental health issues. She is also haunted by a demon. Siggy sees ghosts and demons, has conversations with beings she knows aren't really there, suffers from cluster headaches, coffee addiction, and terminal bad language, and has a hot temper that just won't quit. She lives in a crappy trailer in the woods in Bearpaw, Michigan - alone, just the way she likes it. But then she goes and does something heroic and screws up her rotten life even further. She steps in to save the life of Bane, a glitter-punk rock star...who turns out to be a very gifted assassin, sent to uncomplicate a lot of lives by ending hers. Because the DNA test kit Siggy had sent in response to a junk mail advertisement has alerted some very dangerous people to the fact of Siggy's existence and a magical heritage she didn't know was hers.

Bane, in her debt, allows Siggy to escape - for now. Newly homeless, jobless, and perpetually friendless, Siggy takes the one avenue open to her; she travels to Alaska to meet the grandfather who has reached out to her. Siggy isn't sure what kind of reunion she might expect, but she certainly isn't prepared for the reality of Alaska, shabby and breathtaking at once, or the complicated dance of adoption reunion. Or fish head soup. Or a whirlpool in the river that leads to the Underworld...and the answers to questions she didn't even know she had. In order to learn who - and what - she really is, and in order to spare her young niece the same fate she'd suffered as a child, Siggy must travel to the Underworld and meet the grandmother who'd been waiting there for her, become a raven, trick a witch, and convince an arch-demon to make her a weapon fit for a hero.