Cyn wakes up to find herself stranded on an alien planet. She finds seven other teenaged humans and they are as confused as she is. To Cyn's delight, and some apprehension, twenty-four aliens (all teens on their own planets) have also been deposited: eight Temman, eight Irandi, eight Reannone. Every day, supplies and instructions are delivered to their village for pickup by the managing committee-which consists of Cyn, Stire, Frakis A Kirba, and Tine Jana-one representative from each race. After a time, the four races create a working collective, but they soon decide to rebel. The Guardian appears and sends them on a series of quests, but the grand purpose of the experiment still eludes them.