A human boy named Dez is born on a farm far outside Earth. From the moment of his birth, his only value to society is measured in calories; his qualities as a person are equivalent to fat content. The myriad of alien species who farm and consume his kin live in a wider Galactic Federation: a complex machine that governs nearly all sentient life forms in the Milky Way. With its rules, regulations, and opportunity assessments, the Federation is an essential framework for life throughout the Galaxy. Citizenship in the Federation offers a way forward; prospects on the outside are bleak. A chance escape allows Dez to be freed from the slaughterhouse and provides him with an opportunity to prove himself as an individual, perhaps even as a citizen of the Federation. He hopes the aliens above him will guide him on this journey. But while the Federation has nearly limitless technical and administrative capabilities, it is shackled by the age-old problems of biology.