 In a desolate future destroyed by biological warfare, it s thought all men and most women have died out. The few surviving women are wandering the countryside, or have banded together into small clans. The leader of one, Reverend Mother, is wasting away from disease, kept alive only by infusions of bodily fluids from young captives. But even these are wearing off more quickly, so she orders a seeding programme to produce children. Into all of this is thrust Phoenix. She joins forces with some of the stragglers to protect a newborn boy, and they must protect him from Mother s vicious clan.