Fourteen-year-old Stephanie Harrington and her fellow Provisional Forest Rangers on the planet Sphinx must prevent disaster from befalling a treecat clan caught in a blaze while preserving the secret that the treecats of Sphinx are highly intelligent and deserving of rights that some would deny them.

In an effort to find out why accidents are plaguing Sphinx's younger inhabitants, fifteen-year-old Stephanie Harrington attempts things she never imaged doing--including going undercover into the wilds of the late-night club scene, a realm where her faithful treecat guardian, Lionheart, cannot follow.