Danlo wi Soli Ringess has returned from the Vild, the first lightship pilot to escape that hellish region of fractured space and deadly supernovas where giant computer-gods make war on each other.

But the Civilized Worlds face their own threat of war. A fanatical cult has seized the fabled city of Neverness and plans to take over the galaxy. Though the cult worships Danlo's long-lost father as a god, he casts his lot with its opponents—and is sent to Neverness to try to reason with its leaders. Instead he must fight to survive: against the warrior-poet who has vowed to take his life, the madman with a star-killing weapon and a grim ultimatum, the charismatic leader of the cult—once Danlo's greatest friend, now his fiercest enemy—and his own unbreakable vow never to harm a living thing.