Protagonist Jack Holloway lives a solitary life in a wilderness of planet Zarathustra, itself "owned" by the Chartered Zarathustra Corporation (under Victor Grego), which installed basic services and colonial outposts initially, and now reaps the benefits of new discoveries, such as the valuable 'sunstones' mined by Holloway until he befriends a tiny, feline-like humanoid, nicknamed 'Little Fuzzy', and its traveling-companions. Upon discovery that the 'Fuzzies' intelligence may qualify them as a sapient species, the Company intervenes against them, on grounds that such a discovery would declare the planet a protected aboriginal zone, and deprive the Chartered Zarathustra Company of rights to the resources there.