Jael LeBrae, a young female star rigger, rebels against an abusive ship's master and dares to take "the mountain route" through a region of hyperspace where legend has it that dragons dwell.

But no one believes that real dragons lurk in the mountains, ready to duel unwary riggers... until dragons actually appear in the night sky of the Flux, challenging Jael to a fight to the death. Help appears when a dragon named Highwing befriends the lonely rigger - but only afterward does Jael realize that she has been caught up in an ancient battle of good and evil, her own appearance foretold by an age-old prophecy.

Upon Jael's return to the dragon realm she finds her friend Highwing sentenced to death for his acts of kindness, and her own life declared forfeit if she should try to intervene. But intervene she must, for the sake of a friend who risked his life to save hers.