Maymo is an orphan girl growing up in Joshi Ma’s home for children in Songarh. The day she turns eleven, Maymo discovers that she is a storyteller with stories bubbling and frothing inside her, waiting to spew out of her mouth.

When Maymo breaks the Story Law, she has to run away to escape the fearsome Story Sensors, and ends up in a strange school at the edge of a forest. In this school, no one dares tell stories and everyone eats the terrible food cooked in the school kitchens. But slowly Maymo discovers that there are hidden pockets of resistance. The children crave stories—as much as they want good food—and she and a few others are determined to tell them.

But can they escape the long arm of the law that wants to crush their imagination? Can they show the rulers of the land that stories are essential and give hope? Will the stories that connect and nourish win over narrow truths?