A Sixth Doctor novel with Peri Brown Interstellar tyrant Glavis Judd has usurped the royal family of the world-kingdom Esselven, with intergalactic freelance reporter Dexel Dynes close behind him, faithfully advising the universe of Judd's humanitarian 'liberations'. However, Judd's ambitions for complete conquest are thwarted, as the royal family have escaped the planet just before his arrival, taking with them - in their genetic make-up - the keys to vital archives and systems essential to Esselven's governance. In another time and place, the Doctor and Peri have landed in an exquisitely kept ornamental garden, peopled by strange playful creatures, and wild roaming 'scavengers'. This, it turns out, is the Esselvanian royal retreat, a small planetoid where the monarch could relax and recuperate. It is also where Judd strongly suspects they have escaped to now. Determined to avenge his humiliation on Esselven, Judd attacks the planetoid, only to find that, in the year it had taken him to track the family down, things have moved on much quicker than he could have imagined...