When Jake is sentenced to a virtual world for crimes he definitely did commit, he finds that one bad decision puts him on a path he would never have picked for himself. Virtual reality worlds have become the preferred way of disposing of excess people, and some of the worlds are better than others. Jake finds himself in the swords and sorcery world of Tarinath, living not as the warrior he would have preferred, but as a healer with little ability to do the damage he so wished he could.