Mestiko is a world on the brink of interstellar space travel -- and under covert Federation observation. When a rogue pulsar sweeps through their star system and threatens to destroy all life, the Federation mounts a desperate effort to save the planet from annihilation.

Under the command of James T. Kirk, the Starship Enterpriseis able to mitigate some of the damage, but Mestiko still suffers appalling loss of life.Over the next thirty years, the Enterpriseand its crew revisit Mestiko -- whether to prevent its people from falling prey to the machinations of the Klingon Empire or to deliver a new method of replenishing its ozone -- encountering as they do so both hardships and blessings; love, conflict and death.