It is about a future civilization of wealthy nobles who live in high-tech castles, which are maintained by an enslaved alien race, the Meks.

In the far future, a small elite group of humans have returned from Altair (over 16 light years away) to Earth, their mother planet, to live in nine elaborate, high-tech castles as idle aristocrats.

Their time is spent drinking fine wines, socializing at formal dinners, and striving to rise in their political standing.

Various enslaved alien races provide technicians ("Meks"), transportation ("birds", "power wagons"), household service ("Peasants"), and amusement ("Phanes").

Underneath the nobles' houses are storerooms, warehouses, workshops, living quarters for Meks, and facilities for baking, brewing, and other related functions.

[1] In Lawrence Person's 2003 review, he notes that the aristocrats' "...society has rendered them incapable of rational interaction with other [alien] races".