It begins in an unnamed city nicknamed “the Fairest.” It is distinguished by many things, from the river fair to the mountains that split the municipality in half; its theaters and many museums; the Morgue Ship; and, like all cities, its essential unmappability. Dora has a secret desire --- to find where her brother went after he died, believing that the answer lies within The Museum of Psykical Research. With the city amidst a revolutionary upheaval, Dora contrives to gain the curatorship of the half-forgotten museum only to find it all but burnt to the ground, with the neighboring museums oddly untouched. She is offered one of these, The National Museum of the Worker. However, neither this museum, nor the street it is hidden away on, nor Dora herself, are what they at first appear to be.