Shai discovers he is a pathfinder and is desperate to find a genetically suitable partner to prevent his extrasensory talents from running amok. Unfortunately those talents make him a target for the brutal crime lords and other violent denizens, who inhabit the city of Nhil-Rhar. Shai needs to learn how to use his pathfinder senses - no matter how much they terrify him - before he's trapped in a partnership that will enslave him for the rest of his life.

A vision drawn from the mind of a dying member of an Outrider clan draws Shai and Lorne back into the city of Nhil-Rhar, where they are pulled into a deadly conspiracy. Pathfinders are having dreams of destruction and chaos, criminal factions are battling openly in the streets, and a mysterious virus has been unleashed in the Agency's computers.