When teenager Josh Kerrigan is sent to the planet Solferino he joins a crew of kids already working for the interplanetary agricultural conglomerate stationed there. Though his bosses maintain that no intelligent nonhuman life exists on Solferino, Josh suspects differently.

When Josh's autistic cousin Dawn makes contact with a mysterious alien creature, he is drawn into a battle to save not only the lives of those he loves, but an ecosystem in which a power of unbelievable proportions resides.