The Prayer and her crew have been lost in space for four years. Thomas is lonely and homesick; Zachery is angry and mutinous; Rick is just terrified. And all of them are really in need of some hands-on time with their captain.

The only thing holding them together is their captain, an aloof, sharp-tongued man whose methods of keeping up morale are unconventional, but extremely effective. But now the captain has a choice to make: do they continue their fruitless search for a way home or try to start a new life in this strange galaxy?