The citizens in the city of Old Dominion live together in harmony, except for those of mixed race. The Sunfolk Church has decided the Mixed are second-class citizens because they cannot bear children. But through her research, Dela discovers they can, and the church will do anything to keep her quiet. They send an assassin who studies his targets until he finds his own reason to kill. But when it comes to Dela, the he cannot justify her execution. Caught up in Dela's revolution, he falls in love, and questioning his employers for the first time in his career, the assassin discovers the contract he made is unbreakable and not completing the job will still cost lives – Dela's and his.