Captain Vance and his crew have been in the remote Ostrov system for years looking for the fugitive Trin Lestor.Now they've come to Declo, a planet with frozen mountaintop villages and humid jungle valleys to look for Spinnaker, Lestor's first mate. To find him, they must charter a riverboat captained by a cantankerous alien named Eccers and travel downstream on the River of No Return. Declo is a harsh world, and it will leave a lasting toll on Vance and his crew, provided they make it out alive.