Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter—and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hardboiled space opera.

In the fifth and final book of the Demon Princes series, Gersen trails Howard Alan Treesong, notorious for his imaginative and horrifying revenges. But Treesong has a sentimental streak, and longs for a childhood composition called The Book of Dreams. Exploiting this weakness, Gersen lures Treesong into a final confrontation.