When Jo steps onto Tau Ceti e, it should be the happiest moment of her life. After all, she's been training ever as long as she can remember to be a cadet pilot in the International Space Agency. She's dreamed of the day she and her family would leave Earth forever and begin life as pioneers on a new planet. But now she can't stop thinking of everything which has gone wrong on their mission: the terrible accident which almost destroyed their craft, which set their voyage back years, which killed her brother, which left her unable to fly. As she helps her commander mother establish a community, she starts to feel like her old self again, and she remembers what it means to be a pioneer. That is, until she uncovers a devastating secret her mother has been keeping from her people. With the fate of the pioneers in her hands, Jo must decide how far she's willing to go to expose the truth before the truth destroys them all.