When Pangaea pulled apart to form independent continents, the first dragons who came to explore Earth found themselves dispersed across the face of a world in which they were dominant. Until an indigenous group of intelligent animals rose to prominence.
Famed dragon trophy hunter Jake Heathfield agrees to be interviewed with student journalist Siobhán Malone for a podcast and news article about dragons. When they visit his daughter's blood ranch the ranch is bombed. Heathfield and his grandchildren are taken by one set of dragons. Malone another. They reunite in the center of a dragon rebellion against the reigning Ardri of Dragons and Jake finds himself a prisoner defending dragons he sought to kill. Malone, meanwhile, is charged by the Ardri of Dragons to write a book on the history of the Appalachian dragons including, among others, Viscount Heathfield, the Dragon-Pirate One-Eyed-Gus, the Romani child Robbyne, and Las Vegas diva, the dragon Rainbow Chloe.