A disease has deformed people and has restructured society around quarantine and daily "Parabiosis": only the blood of a living donor can keep the wounds of the sick closed. Tasia is a donor—Paramana, trained at the Tao Penteli Monastery to perform this role continuously until she dies.

Tasia discovers that her body is starting to collapse. Her doors are bleeding and her hematocrit is falling. If the Lady—nervous, cruel, unpredictable—suspects her weakness, Tasia will be thrown into the streets, where no one survives.

Tasia plans to secretly visit the pharmacy to obtain the blood she lacks. But a public announcement warns of a new "blood epidemic." Under the watchful, mechanical gaze of the Master, the Lady, panicked, demands that the Praviosis begin immediately. Tasia obeys, knowing that the next few minutes could kill her or condemn the Lady.