To increase their chances of survival, the crew has used chemical treatments, biofeedback and electronics to mutate their minds and create enhanced self-images, or "Aspects", that let them channel their powers.

This reincarnation by mind transfer has created a race of potential immortals and allowed the former crew members to institute the Hindu caste system, with themselves at the top.

The crew has used their now-great powers to control the native non-human races (whom they characterize as demons) while setting themselves up as gods in the eyes of the many generations of colonist progeny.

The protagonist, Sam, who has developed the ability to manipulate electromagnetic forces, is a renegade crewman who has rejected godhood, taking for himself the role of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

His carefully planned revolt against the gods takes place in stages: "An army, great in space, may offer opposition in a brief span of time.

Parts of the unmade film project—the script and Kirby's set designs—were subsequently acquired by the CIA as cover for the "Canadian Caper": the exfiltration of six US diplomatic staff trapped by the Iranian hostage crisis (in Tehran but outside the embassy compound).