When a deadly plague ravaged the Earth refugees fled into space, crowding into any space station or lunar colony that would take them. Decades passed and the descendants of the survivors struggle to live in anything remotely spaceworthy.

Omesh, banished from his Earthly home, finds himself in Barnacle Town. A collection of salvage clinging to the hull of a space station in lunar orbit. Thousands of lives cling precariously to the hull, at the whim of the corporation that owns the station.

The station manager welcomes everyone. But then the CEO arrives, intent on scraping the hull of his craft clean. Omesh and his family, friends and neighbors? Not the corporation's problem.

With nowhere else to go, Omesh vows to fight for his new home. But physics? More merciless than any CEO.