Four centuries in the future nanomachines watch over the health of the wealthy and manufacture food and gadgets for everybody, and the world is rich. But this is no Utopia. This is a society where technology takes care of everyone's basic needs but leaves most people struggling to extract a meaningful life from a world crowded with wonders but empty of commitment and human connection.

Modesitt overlaps and combines the voices and experiences of five very different people, and builds their disparate stories into a brilliant tale of future crime and investigation, aesthetic challenge and personal triumph. L.E. Modesitt, Jr. asks difficult questions, sets himself unlikely challenges, and once again delivers an absorbing tale that enlightens, entertains, and uplifts all at once.