No longer is he Major Alexander Khan of the galactic-arm-ranging Internal Movement Control; now he is Alexander Khan, criminal. Banished to Prison Planet in 2442 by Earth Central Government-the ECG-he has been dumped naked in a blizzard to die, a punishment for, among other things, distribution of contraband technology, conspiracy to destroy harmony, failure to condemn wrong views, and failure to initiate positive statements. Officially a secret, Prison Planet persists in whispers. Earth-like, it harbors three million transportees, tech-suppression satellites, and a surface that ECG hasn't checked in three hundred years. Khan's survival skills and training kick in as he takes advantage of the natural elements the planet provides. He must find a way back to Earth to avenge his father's death; overturn the ECG; and take down Nathan Fox, the ECG operative who ordered his father's murder. Khan meets the four groups that have developed on Prison Planet, and help in attaining his goal comes from some unexpected sources. He frees a fief's slaves from its lords, escapes Maneaters, and transforms the world of the Techs on the journey to his ultimate mission of bringing freedom to his people. Khan understands that the price of failure is the death of those he loves.