Earth is in chaos. It's a sort of organized chaos to be sure, but when a planet is inhabited by the Alva, a hostile race of aliens from a far-off world, chaos is inevitable. The Randoran from planet Dorn are a warrior race who have feuded with the Alva for centuries, and when they discover that the Alva have taken Earth for their own, they want to help protect the humans if they can. And so a rescue mission is mounted for Earth, and they arrive in style, speaking with the humans to assure them they come in peace before moving on to find the Alva. What they find is awful. The Alva living like kings while humans suffer, some selected ones kept in cages like pets.

Malachi, known as the Champion of the Randoran, goes to speak with the Alvan leader, to tell him that his time is up. He expects threats, maybe even violence. What he doesn't expect is a pair of green eyes to follow him as he walks or to find himself captivated by one of the Alva's prisoners.

As a show of their "good faith" the Alva sell the human woman to him. Malachi means to set her free, but finds that she clings to him, begging him to save her planet, telling him what things used to be like. He finds himself enchanted by this woman and the way Earth once was, and his resolve to see the Alva gone only grows.