A party for the new elite is in full swing at pro-Taelon Senator Edward Gale's posh Washington home when his daughter, Eva appears with a gun. She fires, wounding him in the arm before his security guards can subdue her.

The next day, Liam Kincaid and Renee Palmer meet with a holographic messenger sent by Hubble Urick. He informs them of the shooting and tells them Eva is in the hospital, having tested positive for Kryss, a substance used by Taelons in small quantities to help them adapt to Earth's atmosphere. Liam is surprised and angry, as the Taelons' Kryss facility was shut down eight months before and the Taelons swore they found a way to synthesize Kryss without enslaving humans. Yet Eva, whom the messenger tells them disappeared three weeks before to take part in an archeological dig, must have been enslaved in a Kryss factory to have traces of the substance in her bloodstream. Liam and Renee must prove the factory is still operating.

Liam and Renee investigate a serial killer who murders people in their dreams.

Zo'or threatens to attack the earth after an artifact containing the secret to synthesise taelon core energy is stolen from the mothership.

Renee is torn between love and duty when her boyfriend is captured by the Taelons.

The Taelons' fate - and possibly Liam's - is decided after Liam and Renee find Ma'el's regeneration chamber. The discovery of the secret location causes the surviving Taelons and Jaridians to seek the mechanism, which promises to restore their draining energy. Street, meanwhile, solves the riddle of Ma'el which will allow the Taelons and the Jaridians to join.