A deepening crisis aboard a deep-space colonization vessel has forced most of its crew to evacuate to the nearest planet. During the evacuation, a ship, carrying three young friends to safety, malfunctions and strands them in interstellar space. It's not long before the Ranger, a drifting ship of outlaws, salvages their derelict pod. Put to work in the reactor core by a captain with conquest on his mind, and stalked by bizarre creatures in the shadows, the children's bid to escape and return home is just one thread in a web of ambition and clashing desires, bringing them ever nearer to an ancient mystery lurking in the cosmos.
