University student David Asbury trusts no one and wants nothing more than to be left alone to study alien languages. For three years he has managed just that as an undergraduate at Shel Matkei Academy. But his scholarship, which is his only means of support as an orphan, requires him to become a diplomat in the InterStellar Commonwealth. Now he's on a team of aliens learning how to broker peace treaties and trade deals. Some of them hate him. Some just think he's strange. And one won't let him hide away and waste his life. Just when David decides there's reason to hope for a better future in this world of codes and customs, everything falls apart. More alone than ever, David now has to fight his way to justice, with all the odds, and some very powerful aliens, arrayed against him. But even solving the mystery of who is responsible may not be enough to put the pieces of David's life back together.