Twenty years after an attack perpetrated by androids takes the lives of those closest to him, Doctor Leander Dade is living a reclusive life on Earth—until the Alliance Fleet recalls him back into service aboard the first extrasolar colonization vessel, Ariadne. Unable to refuse this order, Leander returns to space and finds himself serving alongside androids, whom he has never forgiven for the attack.
Tensions are high from the start, but when a mysterious accident strands Ariadne years away from aid, the ship's crew and colonists—humans and androids alike—must band together for survival. Leander is forced to work with the very enemy who nearly cost him his life, and he soon finds himself falling for the last person he expected: Mac, the ship's android chief engineer.
After a mutiny splits the ship in two, Mac comes to the realization that he alone can save the ship and everyone on it, and Leander faces an impossible choice: intervene, or allow Mac to risk his life and their love for each other.
