Whereas DOPS IV (Espiridion) dealt primarily with Abel's search for answers concerning his Espiri ancestors, DOPS V is much more a book of Cass & Lawrie, as well as their friends of the Quad and as-yet unknown "relations" in Waraq and its neighboring communities. Cass after five years in Pilothead Sound has weathered a number of emotional storms, some of which when revealed to those closest to him admittedly have altered their perception of him. However, it's his friendship with Lawrie which most concerns him, and the actor's indecisiveness concerning a return to acting after work on unexpected hit Anarzco Diaz has concluded. Lawrie too has his dilemmas, and some of them are considerably larger than the matter of his friendship with Cass, crucial though that has become to his concept of a happy homelife. Mary Beth and Akele too have a crisis awaiting, although they have only minutes to prepare for it; it will assuredly alter their lives forever, although the outcome is ultimately a happy one for them and their friends the Calderons. Ramon, who can never stay out of trouble for long, is also facing a life-change, and it's obvious that he'll be dragging a reluctant Caupoc along with him-with Evito and Tia hanging onto his coattails. Waraq itself however has reached a critical place in that one of the healing elements on which it depends has grown scarce...or rather, isn't growing at all. This in turn goads Abel all the more urgently to embark on another quest for not only answers but solutions that only he is qualified to bring to fruition. This time, however, in addition to the reluctant Pilea he has Baron to help him plan, and to make things interesting when they threaten to go too smoothly. Bumpy though the road may be in Psalmsinger, it nevertheless concludes with Cass's making a monumental-and public-decision which will alter his life and those of his closest friends irrevocably, leading as it does into DOPS VI (Nightingale), which is a happy book in which many a covenant is cemented.