Pastry chef Merritt Sloane gives her failing Nightjar Sweets one year to survive. During a storm, wounded night-logistics boss Stellan Rook crashes into her kitchen, revealing that the shop's Table Zero is the oldest neutral ground in Vesper Harbor's underworld. As industrial giant Bram Voss tries to monopolize the city's cold-chain network, Merritt and Stellan are drawn into a fight over workers, routes, and the freedom to choose. Their dangerous alliance becomes love only when Stellan learns that protecting Merritt never means controlling her decisions.
