It is about a wealthy man, Kirth Gersen, who is obsessed with seeking vengeance on the remaining Demon Princes who killed his family many years ago.

He learns that Falushe was born Vogel Filschner, an Earth boy of disgusting appearance and habits who, to satisfy his obsession with a female classmate, Jheral Tinzy, had kidnapped the entire girls' choral society at his school.

To this end, he buys the failing, but respected Cosmopolis magazine, disguises himself as a journalist, and authors a lurid article that paints the young Falushe in extremely unflattering terms.

The female inhabitants pay "tax" to him by working in state brothels and by giving their first-born children to him (the most beautiful going to staff the luxurious Palace, the others being sold as slaves).

He finally identifies his target with the aid of a critical error by Falushe: he has an implanted in-ear telephone, which can be heard quietly ringing when Navarth calls him.

Gersen frees the enslaved servants at the Palace, informs the planet's inhabitants that they need pay "taxes" no more, and entrusts the various clones to Navarth's eccentric care.