Je'daii Rangers Hawk Ryo and Lanoree Brock are sent by the Je'daii Council to negotiate a settlement between Dessain Mining and their workers. The workers want a representative who will voice their opinion on how the company is run. The two sides have decided that the best way to accomplish that is by an arranged marriage between Oma Dessain—daughter of the company's owner—and the oldest son of the workers' leader, Brom Santis.
However, young Oma has been kidnapped by Dessain's rival Baron Volnos Ryo's people. The kidnapping has increased the tension between the negotiating sides, as both view the other as the culprit. In the meantime, the girl has been held in an abandoned building in Kainnan. The city has been evacuated due to an imminent volcano eruption. While Ranger Brock tries to keep the negotiations going, Ranger Ryo locates Oma. Using the eruption of the volcano as a diversion, he rescues the girl.
At the same time, in the negotiation chambers, Betolo—a servant of the Dessain family secretly working for the Shikaakwa crime lord—tries to poison Ranger Brock, hoping that that will lead to an open conflict between both sides. However, Lanoree Brock senses that something is off with her drink and roots out the traitor from their midst.
After Oma's return home, she refuses to marry the young Santis. While listening to the fight between father and daughter, Brock comes up with the idea of the youths becoming foster children and spending six months with each household. The two families are forced to accept the Je'daii's suggestion, and after working out the details, the Rangers leave Zerist. Lanoree Brock receives a message from the Council to return to Tython for a special mission, while Hawk Ryo heads to Furies Gate.