The Serenity crew head to Yell City, one of the settlements on Abel, a moon in the Rim. Their job: track down the killers of a local lawyer shot dead in the streets by a local gang. Their client is Annie Roberts, the eighteen year old daughter of the murdered man.

Lucky for them, Annie Roberts is more than capable of handling herself. Unlucky for them, the job is lot more complicated than they first think. Annie's father is not just the victim of local gang violence, but the target of some powerful men.

Taking down a local gang is one thing, but cleaning up a whole city? That's not a job for the Serenity crew. But when their ship is impounded, and Mal and the crew find themselves trapped in Yell City, they realise they are already in deeper than they could have ever imagined...