One hundred people from fifty eligible planets have been abducted and taken to the Planet of Shadows-a patchwork planet consisting of pieces from each of those fifty planets. All these people and all these creatures, plants, and habitats have been assembled for one reason: survival. Charles McCoy is the boy who was abducted from Earth, taken away from his regular life and tasked with surviving on an alien world. He is told that everyone is here for an experiment and that the last survivor will be rewarded with passage back to their own world.

But they are discouraged from killing, they are all humanoid, their speech is being universally translated, they must deal with the mysterious Events, and everyone is beginning to think that perhaps they haven't been told everything about why they are really here.

This book contains suggestive themes and references to drug use.