Jade Darcy, the sole human on the planet Cablans and the last living member of her family, accepts a suicidal assignement against a race of violent alien conquerers

At first, expecting her new job to be easy, Jade Darcy is oblivious to the religious strife wracking the world of Restappa. Jade and Megan Cafferty, her employer, discover that the Restappans are in the process of electing a new religious leader. During this process, the candidates hatch plots against anyone they see as a danger to their victory. Each one of them will go to any extreme, even murder, to assure his election as Restappa's religious leader. Jade and Megan are pegged as threats that must be eliminated. And Jade has the difficult task of restoring order to Restappa as well as protecting her own life.