 River Tam and her brother Simon are hiding out from the totalitarian government that experimented with River s brain aboard the space-freighter Serenity. Captained by a down on his luck, no faith soldier, the crew of Serenity must take jobs (legal or not) while avoiding the Alliance, and keeping the Tams safe. But when things get out of hand with the true extent of River s powers, the Alliance sends a new Operative to make sure what River knows doesn t get out. How will the crew of Serenity deal with this new threat? And what exactly does River know that the Operative is willing to kill for?