Ellie is a story about losing your way and finding it again. Ellie, the youngest navigator in the fleet, challenges the authority of her uncle Astreya, the Grand Commander. Only hours later, cannon shots cripple her boat, she falls overboard and is lost ashore. Ellie tries to return home to Matris, but unexpected friends and threatening foes intervene. As her uncle, sister, and cousins search for her, Ellie is forced to travel by foot, horseback, and land crawler to the Castle, where the Governor is fomenting war.