When the Hain first visit the Werelian system, they encounter a people living in a rigid and violently hierarchical system, separated into “owners” and “assets.” Assets are enslaved; in the Werelian language, they are not people. The Hain’s arrival precipitates massive change, with a slave revolt on one planet, and soon after, a civil war on another. In each of the five stories collected here, people come together amidst the turmoil of that change: a disgraced leader of the revolution encounters a freedwoman in the winter of their years; a Hainish envoy meets a woman doctor and finds the revolution is yet unfinished; a historian and writer recounts her life, from a childhood in bondage through the terrible path to freedom, and with it, love; a Terran woman and a Werelian guard become trapped together and upend their expectations; and an older Hainishman and supporter of the liberation learns what it means to be truly helpless. Whether there’s any actual forgiveness is left to the reader to decide; but there are a great many steps along the way.