The windows between the many worlds have been sealed, and the momentous adventures of Lyra Silvertongue's youth are long behind her or so she thought. Lyra is now a twenty year old undergraduate student at Oxford, but intrigue and danger are swirling around her once more. When her daemon Pantalaimon witnesses a brutal murder, the dying man entrusts them with dark secrets that carry echoes from their past. The more Lyra is drawn into these mysteries, the less she is sure of anything. Even the events of her own childhood come into question when she uncovers new truths about how she was brought to Jordan College. Now Lyra and her old friend Malcolm Polstead must embark on a perilous journey far beyond the familiar streets of Oxford. Their travels will take them across Europe and into the treacherous desert, searching for a hidden city haunted by daemons and the ultimate truth about the mysterious particle known as Dust. The dangers they face will challenge everything they thought they knew about the world, their past, and themselves.