Mohado -- vulgar term applied to timeslipped workers. Living as virtual slaves, these desparate workers move back and forth through time at the whims of their employers. This is Aramond Smith O'Reilly's life. Witness to his mother's murder, kidnapped, and sold into a life of misery... He will never know where - or when - he will be.

After escaping wretched conditions, Aramond rises above his situation. Purchasing a timeship, he becomes the very thing mohados dread and fear: a coyote.