A child of Mars, Najib is born with a wanderer's heart that eventually leads him to Psyche for work. But he finds factory life on the asteroid intolerable, and escapes to Callisto. When the arrivals officer misspells his name, Najib takes the opportunity to reinvent himself. Najib finds love on Callisto, but also stumbles across the planet's seedy underbelly, where he finds a crooked governor and an honorable crook who, when Najib tells him of his dream to get to Earth, advises him that "in order to go east, you should head west." There is no direct route to Earth for an off-worlder with a questionable past, so Najib again reinvents himself and becomes a respected bio-archeologist despite the interference of his manipulative boss. A chance meeting with a street philosopher ultimately changes Najib's life and pushes him towards his chosen path. Along his circuitous trek to Earth, Najib meets several more people who ultimately have a profound effect on him. But his wayward past starts to catch up with him. Will Najib be punished for his deceptions? Or will the experience and wisdom he's gathered in his travels lead him in a new direction entirely?