Jennifer Prothero lives happily in the valley of New Garth, where she has been adopted by a group living off the land in self-imposed exile from civilization. Then, their rural peace is destroyed when ships carrying two species of alien, one friendly, the other hostile, crash nearby—the horrid Watermen, whose perverse, child-stealing ways are well-known on Earth. Jennifer and her companions must choose: defend themselves, or leave their hard work behind to begin new lives far from the odious Watermen. And Jennifer is faced with a very surprising choice about her future.