Agent Miles Vorkosigan investigates terrorism and financial speculation on the planet Komarr. The story is told through the eyes of Ekaterin, the unhappily married wife of a government official with whom Vorkosigan falls in love.

When a Komarran merchant fleet is impounded at Graf Station after a bloody incident involving a security officer from the convoy's military escort, Miles Vorkosigan and his wife are called in to untangle the diplomatic snafus, treachery, and dark secrets.

"Three years after her famous husband's death, Cordelia Vorkosigan, Vicereine of Sergyar, stands ready to spin her life in a new direction. Oliver Jole, Admiral, Sergyar Fleet, finds himself caught up in her web of plans in ways he'd never imagined. Meanwhile, Miles Vorkosigan, one of Emperor Gregor's key investigators, this time dispatches himself on a mission, into a mystery he never anticipated--his own mother. Plans, wills, and expectations collide...