Marooned on a strange world, forcibly separated from the woman he loves, and attacked by hostile aliens, Leo's plight seems hopeless. But desperate situations call for desperate measures. When Leo befriends one of his alien pursuers an unlikely alliance grows between the tough passionate Earthman and the coldly logical, sexless Shemsi. Only with this alien's assistance, Leo realises, can he be reunited with Misty and discover the strange secrets of Birth Mountain and of the powerful queens who rule there.