Astronaut Jack Schmitt discovers orange soil in Shorty Crater at the very end of the EVA and gathers samples in a race against time to get back to the LEM.

Katrina Suttner, the young daughter of one of von Braun's colleagues, is in on a secret involving the mission, and is certain that humans will soon return to the Moon.

Jack Medaris, the protagonist, is preparing the launch of a privately funded, uncrewed mission to the Moon to gather more of the orange soil, which appears to have enormous potential as a source of clean nuclear energy on Earth.

He has also smuggled a bare-bones LEM, of his own design, aboard the shuttle, which will allow him to make a one-man EVA to the Apollo 17 landing site.

In spite of these obstacles, Medaris successfully lands on the Moon, gets the orange soil, retrieves the message from Katrina, and returns to Earth.