On nights with big moons, Lady Night Boys look for life… Wild boy Tarin is only telling a fireside story, but, like all his best intentions, it goes awry. He's survived this year's boy hunt, but now he must learn to protect the younger boys. Proud of his new role, he only meant to scare the boys a little bit with his stories of the undead boys from the maw, but now they're coming true. The hunger, cold, and wild dogs can be struggled against, but how will the woodland boys face a Lady Night Boy?

Wild boy Tarin is determined not to be captured by the men who live in the decaying Before Times buildings on the other side of Tarin's woodland home, but he's just as determined to protect the younger boys in the woods.No one remembers being a child or knows where all the women have gone or how society crumbled, but for as long as they can remember, boys have lived in the woods and are hunted by the men each Fall. Some boys believe in a mysterious Lady who protects them, while others think the men are magic. Tarin knows better - he's met a man, and escaped by stabbing him.Hunted through the woods as he tries to protect the weaker Cory, Tarin is trapped and claimed by the very man he knifed. All Tarin wants is to stay in the woods and not have to get 'civilized, ' but he's carried off into a different world of rules and discipline. Will he be able to survive now that he is Out of the Woods?

Tarin's been caught, but can he be civilized? Despite his wild ways and his keen instincts, Twice-caught Tarin is bonding with his beak-faced captain, Garrick, but not everyone wants their relationship to succeed. Learning civilized skills and living in buildings have their good points, but Tarin struggles to reconcile his yearning for freedom with his desire for Garrick and his loyalty to his friends. His thinking is clouded by his buzzing conscience and the remaining effects of having his memory wiped by the mysterious Mothers. One thing Tarin is sure of; Major Jadon is a Bad Egg. He's a bitter and jealous man determined to stop any happiness in the community and consolidate power in himself. If Jadon succeeds in his plans, not only will Tarin and Garrick be parted, but Tarin's friend Perry will be in Jadon's clutches. As if threats to community harmony and the safety of new boys weren't bad enough, Tarin may lose the traditional Candle Day choice between his man and the woods if Garrick is not declared to be whole and healthy. Can Tarin's untamed nature defeat the civilized Jadon's cunning use of the community's rules before Candle Day? As many perils for Tarin lie within the winterbound community as outside, but when library-boy Aran faces a cruel punishment, Tarin is even willing to face the Mothers to save his friend. Winter may pass, but will Jadon’s malice ever cease?