Late in the next century, humans have acquired technology to access the stars, and merges, humans with some animal genes and characteristics, prepare habitable worlds for settlement. Loxy and Lana Quum live on Krail, the green moon, with their parents and four other families of merges. Following an unprecedented visit by the authorities, their parents seem to disappear, and a reclusive being directs them to leave Krail and travel to a nearby planet where they can get help. On their long journey they will overcome treachery, unite with their allies, discover their histories, and take sides in a conflict where their lives, the fate of Earth, and the future of life in the universe all hang in the balance.