The Space exploration ship Integra crash lands on a remote planet. The crew members soon realise that there is no chance of rescue and that they will have to learn to make do with what resources they have, on a wild, rich and diverse planet. But they are not alone and biologist Toni Anderson is contacted by aliens, the Eelark people, and soon a mutually beneficial deal is brokered in which a new and self-sustaining colony is formed. This is the first of two books, with the sequel being Declaration of Independence.