After thousands of years of searching, humans stand on the verge of first contract with an alien race. Two human groups: The Qeng Ho, a culture of free, innovative traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.

The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens very doorstep, for their strange star to relight and for the alien planet to reawaken, as it does every two hundred and fifty years...

Amidst terrible treachery, The Qeng Ho must flight for their freedom and for the lives for the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, white the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike.

More than just a great science fiction adventure, A Deepness in the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery and the redemptive power of love.