Once a year, Ayan, the red moon, mounts his mistress Lydya, the white moon, and his red-tinted shape eclipses her white beauty. Denys blushes as she thinks of its symbolic meaning. "If it weren't for Shoreen," the Tara girl whispers, "there would be dozens of marriages during the eclipse." Every five years the dark green and pock-marked moon, Shoreen, sneaks up behind Ayan and Lydya with mischief on her mind. 240 years ago, Shoreen was in the sky and a starship was destroyed. 100 years ago the Smythes executed Tara males, enslaved Tara females, and drove the Tara into hiding. The Smythes plan to do it again. Will Denys lose her father, brother, and lover and become a sex-slave? Or will Pietra and her psychic lovers find a solution and save Denys and the Tara from the Smythes?