Allen Allenson is a young gentlemen by birth though he was born and raised on the distant colonial planet of Manzanita rather than Brasilia, the homeworld. He hopes to earn a position of respect in his society, so when Allenson's relatives send him on a search for investment opportunities in the Hinterlands, the worlds beyond formal settlement and formal law, Allenson is happy to oblige. In that wilderness, Allenson discovers his manhood when he rises as a leader for the colonies in a bloody rivalry between homeworlds.