Erewhon's location between Manticore, Haven and the Solarian League makes it a place where agents from the different star nations can play the intelligence game.

From the first moment, Zilwicki, Berry and Ruth get entangled in a complex situation involving Havenite agents, ambitious Solarian Navy officers, violent Masadan mercenaries, the Audubon Ballroom and the powerful Mesan corporation Manpower Incorporated.

The Mesans want to stay out of the limelight and prevent all the other factions from attacking their major industry: slave trading, while the Audubon Ballroom simply wants to hit Mesa anywhere they can.

The clash of interests comes to a head with an attempted kidnapping on Berry Zilwicki and Ruth Winton (who happens to be the sister of the leader of the Masadan mercenaries) aboard The Wages of Sin, Erewhon's main civilian space station.

After Manpower's involvement is discovered, a haphazard alliance between the Manticorans, Solarians, Havenites and the Ballroom is organized to launch an attack on the Mesan-owned planet Verdant Vista, popularly known as "Congo".