When their ship crash lands in stone-age Europe, the true colors of advanced beings are exposed. Ram Delatron rebels against an inter-galactic code not to interfere with the local inhabitants of any planet. His visions of grandeur, of becoming a new-styled emperor among the native people, challenge Dax JonRad and Terra, two officers of the Conditional Principle, and put them all at risk when he steals the weapons made from the ship's scrap metal and strikes off on his own after murdering a fellow crew-member.
Ed Monroe's meticulous research about life on earth during the Mesolithic Age is vividly brought to life in the encounters with strange animals and humans who practice ancient ways. Even though the space travelers have advanced psychic and technological knowledge, they must learn to survive in the primitive landscape of Western Europe during the Ice Age.