On the verge of being murdered, a child vanishes, and her tormentors, arrested for her disappearance, remember only a bright light and a tall blue man. Two abandoned dogs, being used as bait in a dogfight, see a bright light in the instant they are to be torn apart, and the men at ringside wake up naked and chained, with no dogs in sight. After a night of terror, a woman and three cats find themselves on an alien vessel, with no hope of rescue. The "Bluemen" hope to change their society with the help of a child, and Bess McPhinney is appalled to learn that she has been abducted to serve as a substitute mother on an alien planet, particularly since she has no children and no great fondness for them. Left temporarily on a "drop-off" planet, Bess and her Bluemen enhanced felines are taken in by the "Elpies," a species of man-sized telepathic reptiles. Simon, a man who has chosen to stay on the Elpies' planet for reasons of his own, becomes Bess' mentor in the Elpie way of life. As Elpies, humans, and alien augmented animals all play a part in nurturing a child badly in need of family, family is what they become.Their newly formed bonds and a simpler way of life seem idyllic until the return of two criminals, long thought dead, shatters the peace of the village with unthinkable violence. Four species face this evil together, and the outcome of their struggles will ultimately change the destinies of two planets.