Equipped with an experimental faster-than-light drive, a United Systems cruiser is converted and recommissioned as the exploratory vessel New Horizon. During its first jump, something goes terribly wrong, damaging the ship and hurtling it thousands of light-years from its destination. With the FTL drive destroyed, the handpicked crew's only option is to settle in a nearby star system. Fortunately, a habitable planet exists in the system, populated by creatures that are strikingly similar to those of Earth's past. Internal politics, along with a series of accidents, plagues the fledgling colony while they struggle to gain a foothold and discover the secrets of the planet. The prospects become grim when the dominant rulers of the world arrive to dispute the New Horizon crew's precarious claim.