Events take place in the distant future, two thousand years after people left the depleted Earth and went to seven open and habitable worlds. Six ships reached their goal, the seventh expedition, going to Getea, was considered dead, since communication with it was lost and during all this time there was no news. New planets have long been mastered, and people themselves have passed a certain evolutionary path - in each world their own. North Blackmount is part of this world, a Sattorian, a semi-legal smuggler. His life changes dramatically when, when the next order is to intercept and deliver a spaceship, an unexpected trophy falls into his hands - a child. Girl. North gives the ship to the customer, leaving the girl with him. Since there was not a word about her in the order, he decided that he could get a ransom for her from those to whom she was taken. However, he soon realizes that, instead of the likely additional profit, he will face completely certain problems - the girl did not belong to any of the mastered worlds, and this was only the beginning of the subsequent chain of events...