Scout Captain Ian Fieran is cleaning up operations after battling a Gen'gineer team that attacked and decimated a small colony. The crime of the colonists? Their genetics didn't suit the exacting standards of the Gen'gineers, who continue the dogma and goal of the Set'ri from centuries ago, trying to create the "perfect" Human genome. Captured data leads Ian and his team of Scouts across the galaxy to the Rim colony world of Chorillan, where they hope to track down a Gen'gineer nest.At the same time, Mirana Riallon, a schoolteacher and daughter of very important members of the Colony Council, is worried about one of her students. The boy is an orphan, and she wants to adopt him. However, Ranny is showing all the signs of going into Phase--the sensory overload that hits some children near adolescence. No one knows what causes Phase, and there is no known cure. Some fear that the Azuli, sentient canines native to Chorillan, are stealing the children when they escape into the wilderness, seeking to ease their discomfort that has been compared to an allergy to civilization and all things processed, manufactured and synthetic. When Ranny vanishes, Miranda determines to go into the forests of Chorillan to find him.She meets Ian and his Scouts. They help her look for Ranny while she helps them hunt down the Gen'gineers. As each side educates the other, they come to a partnership, then friendship. The choices Ian and Miranda make during their hunt will change Chorillan for generations to come.