When Boyd first washed up on the planet Oridia, he was a barely literate gun-for-hire with scars and an alcohol dependancy. Recruited by Gregor and Ivan Valantine in their fight against republican revolutionaries, he served so well as to be evently enrolled as a bodyguard to Gregor's twin daughters, Tatiana and Katarina. Over the next seventeen or so years, Boyd became a firm friend of Gregor's, the older man teaching Boyd reading, writing and an appreciation of classic literature from across the galaxy.

Now, however, Gregor is feared dead, and Boyd has to protect the twins as they are chased from their homeworld by the resurgent revolutionaries. With Gregor gone, Boyd must struggle not only against his grief, but also his growing, inexorable attraction toward both the blossoming Tatiana, and the bottle.