"The Tree ruled the horizons, shouldered aside the clouds, and wore thunder and lightning like a wreath of tinsels. It was the soul of life, trampling and vanquishing the inert, and Joe understood how it had come to be worshipped by the first marvelling settlers on Kyril." Joe Smith is roaming the galaxy in search of the man who has stolen his love's heart. During his travels he becomes involved with a power struggle taking part between two worlds - one religious, the other cultural - over possession of a developing, but potentially lucrative, third.