Cade Skywalker has escaped from the Sith on Corscant and owes a number of favors. While he would love to settle back into his old normalcy as a smuggler with his friends Deliah and Sy by his side, it is soon clear that he is going to have to get out of the spotlight so the Sith won't be able to get their hands on him again. He decides to visit an old friend, his uncle Bactah.

Bactah has settled down with his wife Droo and their "kits" on a backwater world. It turns out that Bactah is actually Cade's uncle and the older brother to Cade's father. Bactah went into hiding after the Sith massacred the Jedi and has been able to stay off the radar with his wits and by not using the Force.

Bactah and his family are more than happy to see Cade and his friends. This is particularly true of Bactah's daughter, who has more than a crush on Sy. When a group of Imperial Knights arrive looking for Cade when he is found by a bounty hunter it becomes clear that Cade and his friends cannot stay with Bactah without endangering him and his family. The situation is even more challenging when the bounty hunter turns out to be an old padawan friend of Cade's who ended up finding safety in the Imperial Knights.

Cade, along with his friends some of the Knights and his uncle, end up heading toward a secret hidden temple that was set up by the Jedi decades earlier in the hopes of finding a safe haven. To their surprise, they arrive to find that other Jedi have also set up there, some of them familiar and some not.

It does not take long for the Knights and the Jedi to discuss the possibility of an alliance to take on the Sith Empire, an issue that really comes to a head when Cade proposes a mission to send in a unit led by himself to assassinate Emperor Darth Krayt in the hopes of bringing down the Sith Empire. This brings about a debate as to whether that would serve the light side of the Force or help save the universe from the Sith. Something that seems to be more important as the group learns of the genocide taking place on Mon Calamari in response to recent actions by rebels there against the Sith Empire.

The story continues to weave itself together as different elements become clearer and clearer to the reader. The characters and the political forces are starting to choose sides as the tale seems to be working its way toward an epic conclusion that will do the franchise proud. There are no shortage of questions and mysteries surrounding the characters, and Ostrander seems to be pealing away the truths like fine onion skins.