Ligia, a young overweight geologist, copes with day-to-day harassment from her prospecting team mates. Mars society's female-to-male ratio negates any chance of companionship for her.

While the specter of an all-out war looms over the Red Planet, she imagines the floating cities of Venus, where a mostly male population of scientists work to reverse the hothouse effect of their inhospitable world.

When a freak accident leaves her stranded with an incoming sandstorm, Ligia has only a few hours of air left in her tanks. She must draw upon her meager resources and her rising anger to extend her life.

But is survival really worth it when death can plunge from the sky at any moment?