Ten years have passed since Lynne Christie's first visit to Orthe, a world laid waste when its dominant culture, the Golden Witchbreed, destroyed itself two millenia ago. Earth's multicorporate companies have long regarded Orthe as a backwater, yet commercial interest revives when ancient Witchbreed technology is found to be functional. But the Ortheans are aggressively uncooperative, fearing the rediscovery of high-tech weapons.

Trade is the solution, and Christie, now a PanOceania representative, returns to a world in which she feels half Orthean, half human. Tormented by her age-old, alien memories - are they madness? Might they be real? - Christie fights trade exploitation and the threat of conflict amongst Ortheans. And suddenly events race - for this struggle threatens to engulf the future of all she loves...