In this first volume we meet Kolin, an insurance man living on Maia, a giant planet to which most human beings have migrated. He is a gifted, mathematical genius, brilliant at predicting the future for his clients using mathematical modeling. But he's depressed. Extended life technology has affected his job and his own future looks bleak. That's why he agrees to accept a mission to investigate a computer error on far off Warden Sat, an earth orbiting outpost, occupied by scientists, as well as a nomadic tribe of hippies. Using an experimental means of travel Kolin's neural data is transmitted across the galaxy to occupy the body of a recently deceased member of this nomadic community. As he investigates the computer error it emerges that the catalyst for the error is Liwei, one of life's restless romantics. And the lover of the man whose body he's in.