Zoë Boutin-Perry travels to the fledgling colony world of Roanoke with her adoptive parents, John Perry and Jane Sagan, who have accepted positions as administrators. When her biological father develops the technology to give the Obin consciousness and self-awareness, she suddenly becomes the center of a critical but endangered treaty between the Obin and the Colonial Union.

Zoë Boutin-Perry travels to the fledgling colony world of Roanoke with her adoptive parents, John Perry and Jane Sagan, who have accepted positions as administrators. When her biological father develops the technology to give the Obin consciousness and self-awareness, she suddenly becomes the center of a critical but endangered treaty between the Obin and the Colonial Union.