Fugitive Tristan Hawthorne loved his captain and has spent five years searching for proof to convince Shadow Fleet he's innocent his lover's murder. Captured and bound for transport to a penal colony, he comes face to face with an old enemy and revelations about the murder. Tristan vows to expose the truth to the Fleet. He escapes, but crash lands on an unidentified and uncharted planet where he encounters an alien who stirs passions he thought long buried.

Lucan receives special permission from the council to fly to Oria to release his mother's spirit on the sacred world. With no family remaining, he's broken and unsure. However, he didn't count on meeting a human while he's alone and mourning. He's drawn to Tristan's swagger and strength. He longs to be near him, even though his mother warned him that humans are a violent race, bent on destroying themselves and anyone around them.

With one working ship and a failing planetary cloaking device, it's a short time until humans discover Oria and Tristan is recaptured. Under the starry, moonlit sky of the holiday Jainfest, the men learn to overcome their feelings of fear and distrust, and winds up finding out they aren't so different after all.