Seven years after their first expedition, Huldar and the Uri'madu return to the planet Went, but although they are happy to be there, everything has changed. There are new team members, including an ex-assassin, a grumpy war veteran and a restless navigator. The God-Emperor has overthrown millennia of tradition and allowed a host of rapacious miners immediate access despite the lack of environmental studies and Explorers Guild approval. As the planet fights back, its mysteries begin to reveal themselves. Isolation wreaks havoc on the social fabric and people start dying. Is it an enemy within or the planet herself that kills them? Huldar has the power to speak with her, but every time he does, the experience brings him one step closer to death. Is he the sacrifice foretold, or do her prophecies have another meaning entirely?
