Lyra Silvertongue is now studying at St Sophia's College, Oxford, with her doemon Pantalaimon. They are not getting on. Lyra is questioning everything she once held dear. Pan misses the impulsiveness of their youth. When an act of terrible violence breaks the peace of the Oxford night, Lyra and Pan's relationship reaches a crisis and they are drawn, far from home, into the dangerous factions of a world they had no idea existed.