For generations, the descendents of the powerful telepath known as the Rowan have used their various Talents to help mankind -- some are powerful telepaths, others can teleport through space, others are empathic healers. The clan has grown powerful. They have led Earth to ally itself with the alien Mrdini, and together the two races have held back the predatory Hivers, a deadly insectoid species that kills all life it finds.

Like all powerful families, the Rowan clan has also made enemies. There are those who say the treaties with the Mrdini gave away too much -- especially, that the Mrdini get more than their fair share of new living space as habitable planets are discovered -- that the Hivers should have been exterminated by now, and that far too much power is concentrated in one family.

The clan has two goals to keep the peace: to help the Mrdini control population growth, so that newly discovered planets are distributed more evenly, and to put a final halt to Hiver advances. They are confident of success -- if they can survive sabotage and assassination attempts aimed at destroying all they have worked for.