Praxiteles Mercouri, known to his friends as Prax, has spent his whole life on the plains of the planet Celadon. He knows nothing of technology; his nomadic people travel in huge wagons pulled by enormous beasts native to Celadon. His culture is based on clans, duty, and obligation.
Rishi Trahn lives on Subidar, a much more populous world with a much higher level of technology. Rishi, the only survivor of her family, has inherited her family's very profitable trading company. On a trip to check up on her business, she travels to Celadon. While sightseeing she is able to avert a disaster for Prax's clan. In the ensuing celebration, Rishi overdoes the potent local wine and causes a crisis for the clan she saved. As a result, Prax ends up travelling back to Subidar with her, but he is a man lost in a maze of a foreign culture and unknown technology. Rishi, meanwhile, feels terrible for taking him away from his people. But not so terrible that she wants to send him back.