Dove, a young man without memory, emerges naked and nearly drowned from a creek. Lacking any past or cultural identity, Dove employs his instinct to succeed and survive in any situation. Amid a developing slave revolt, Dove secures comfort and gay sexual intimacy with his slave, Raret. As he advances in an outlandish culture, Dove demonstrates an innate ability to overcome problems as he bounds up the rigid social hierarchy of Greenworld, an ability enhanced by his mysterious luck. Webs of treachery tighten around Dove as he and Raret seek a peaceful end to institutionalized slavery and seek to curtail the influence of the overlords who whimsically determine the fates of their fellow mortals. In between finding passionate fulfillment with Raret, Dove acquires titles and properties, forms alliances, and battles the rebelling slaves in order to free them, all the while striving toward the final revelation of his own origins.