Quillian Watson is approaching the age of freedom and autonomy. But before she can celebrate, she and Dr. M--the human mechanist with whom she's apprenticing-lose a child patient brought in for a mechanical arm. While the aftermath leaves her tools bloody, it tarnishes more than the brass-clad operating room. One misspoken word corrodes what's left of Quillian's idealistic world, and she begins to doubt who she knows to be good. A visit from a high-ranking Madam--the woman who placed Quillian in her apprenticeship--introduces her to the curious Grayson Holmes and his multitude of questions. Missing prostitutes. Stolen limbs. And what do all these surgeries have to do with it?