In a galaxy beyond the Milky Way, on a planet called Thoro, a war that he cannot understand tears apart the contented life of Hair, the Elon servant of a Mendor family. When circumstances separate him from Lucy, his friend and fellow servant, and Mara, the only surviving member of his family, Hair embarks upon a journey to find his friends in a place called the Valley of Light, where all the different races on Thoro live happily side by side. Leaving behind the only home he has ever known, Hair's perilous journey leads him into many dangerous situations and shows him just how limited and narrow his life as a servant really was. But such knowledge, as Hair finds, doesn't come without a price, and he is left bewildered and scared when he discovers the shocking truth about society on Thoro.