Mary Grenthorpe is an astronaut unable to compete with younger candidate. David Brennan is a young man who is banished to Mars for being in the wrong company at the wrong time. They find themselves working together to establish the first city on Mars. Forces unknown to them reach out from Earth past and present in the battle to forge a just society. Set in the near future, when Mars is seen as a genetic lifeboat, could Mars be the place where the dreams of a second chance can become reality?