Major Jimjoy Earle Wright, secret agent of the Empire, succeeds all too well in overthrowing a military dictatorship—and the result is a new government inimical to the Empire and disgrace for Jimjoy. After two assassination attempts, Jimjoy realizes that his worst enemies could become his best friends. Fighting his way to safety within the Ecolitan Institute, he becomes James Joyson Whaler, Ecolitan, joining a war of independence against the inconceivably superior forces of the Empire.