Shelton Keyes would not be on death row if the one good moment in his life had not been used to make him into a dupe for drug runners. An hour from his execution, officials from the International Office of Special Science offer him a chance to take part in an experimental, off-world prison where, whether he lives or dies, he is free. One question convinces Shelton to go: If he knew his life was over after pulling the trigger, why didn't he make the police officer's partner kill him?

At the IOSS staging facility in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Shelton learns quickly that he and his sixty-three fellow inmates will be sent off-world dead or alive. Terrified of the other prisoners, he joins the last module being sent into a portal at the bottom of the sea, which recent cosmic events have uncovered. Their launch fails-or it seems.

Stranded on a moon devoid of life, Shelton and his crew must cultivate the rocky ground before their rations run out. The planet they orbit has other ideas, and the men learn the violence they inflict on each other shortens the days they have left. Only a series of stunning sacrifices will save the new world for the rest of humanity, who are seeking escape from a dying Earth-and make Shelton see for what he wants to live.