Jo Maguire, a highly strung, underemployed telemarketer, meets Ysabel, a princess of unspecified pedigree, and unexpectedly becomes her guardian and caretaker. Now Jo must make a place for herself among Ysabel's decidedly unusual family and friends—which calls for a bit more sword-play than most of us are used to—in a city where sinister high-rise condos are fought by a sprawling tea-house built out of scrap lumber, where ancient sea-gods retire to close-in Southeast apartments with lovely views, where duels take place in supermarkets, and the Devil keeps a morgue in an abandoned big-box store.