Sixteen-year-old Kia is a quirky loaner with an ironic sense of humor. When her father dies, he discloses a secret to her alone: he possesses a magnificent diamond that he has been hiding for years. Fearing that he stole it, Kia keeps it a secret too. She soon discovers that the diamond is from the distant colonized planet of Malem and that the planet is responsible for her father's death. Now she is convinced that it is illegal for any off-worlder to possess a Malemese diamond. When her training as a translator is finished, she is assigned to Malem and soon begins to unravel the origins, and dangers, of the mysterious diamond.
