Mars is Earth's most distant colony, and for good reason. But now even Mars is breaking away as its rebel leaders risk total war. To make matters worse, an old psychological problem has resurfaced, and the one man best able to help with the solution has his own agenda. Using the war as a pretext, he attempts that agenda in Earth's premier battleship, but finds himself haunted by recollections from his past. Ultimately, he's forced to either make peace with that past or sink deeper into the madness that threatens to kill him.