In the previous volume of this bestselling series of fantasy novels; our hero Richard Rahl; wielder of the Sword of Truth; and his lover Kahlan unwittingly released upon the New World a terror from the malign and wild magic of the Old World. The Chimes now run free in the Midlands and Richard and Kahlan; powerful in their own right; begin to see their own magic undermined; leaving the people of the New World vulnerable to the encroaching evil that Darken Rahl first unleashed in WIZARD'S FIRST RULE.