On the planet Centarc, light years and eons from the origin world, a government becomes increasingly male centric. Women are thrust from a culture of relative equality to one where they have no rights. Terran Olander is one of these women. Within the course of a short period of time she loses her job, her husband and her freedom. With the choice of living as a maid in her son's home, or striking out on her own she chooses to live in poverty, eking out a small existence doing piecemeal factory work. As she begins to lose all hope for her future and the future of her planet, an unexpected turn of events leads her onto the path of an underground female resistance movement. From that point on her life changes dramatically for the second time, as she becomes part of a very secret female initiative bent on changing the gender dynamic of Centarc. With no power, women are either herded into 'Safety Camps', or find their way into the resistance. Terran and her group realize that they cannot fight the government on its terms, but must find their own way to bring down the regime that oppresses them. A search for something, anything new, leads them to a dangerous and controversial plan, that will either bring them freedom or death.