Publisher's Synopsis
On the verge of being murdered, a child vanishes, and her tormentors, arrested for her disappearance, remember only a bright light and a tall blue man. Two abandoned dogs, picked up for use as bait in a dog fighting ring, see a bright light in the instant they're to be torn apart. The men at ringside wake up to find themselves naked and chained, with no dogs in sight. After a night of terror, a woman and her three cats land on a ship filled with aliens. The "Bluemen" hope to change their society with the help of a child, and Bess McPhinney is appalled to learn that she's been abducted to serve as a substitute mother on an alien planet, particularly since she has no children and no great fondness for them. Left temporarily on a "drop-off" planet, Bess and her newly enhanced felines are taken in by the Elpies, a species of large, telepathic reptiles. Simon, a man who has chosen to stay with the Elpies, rather than return to Earth and a life filled with grief, becomes Bess' mentor in the Elpie way of life. As Elpies, humans, and animals all play a part in nurturing a child badly in need of family, family is what they become. Their newly formed bonds and a simpler way of life seem ideal until the return of two criminals, long thought dead, shatters the peace of the village with unthinkable violence. The four species must face this enemy together, and the outcome of their struggles will ultimately change the destinies of two planets.
