Fifteen hundred years in the future: after seven wars with the alien Rubahy, after settlement upon settlement and resettlement of every piece of dirt available, after every imaginable religious and political upheaval. Mars has been terraformed for a thousand years, glaciers cover Europe, central Africa is Earth's breadbasket, some space freighters have twentieth-generation crews. More people live in space than on Earth. And no one has found a way around the light-speed limit; the human race is still confined to one solar system, though now we share it with the Rubahy.

Six thousand human nations, ranging from the mighty Hive to puny tribes of a few thousand. Hundreds of zybots, secret conspiracies to reshape all of human history. Thousands of sovereign economic monopolies ranging from powerful the powerful Duchy of Uranium to the tiny Barony of Paper Clips. The complex faith of the Wager, with its hundreds of variants and heresies. A world of unimaginable complexity.

Into this world steps Jak Jinnaka, eighteen years old, a handsome intelligent natural athlete with secrets unknown even to himself in his past, and one thing on his mind: "Dude, where's the party?"

Then thugs kidnap Jak's girlfriend, beating Jak and his friends to a pulp, Jak's kindly old uncle turns out to be a spymaster, Jak is suddenly on a secret mission -- and then the weird parts begin to happen. Looks like he found the party ....