Earth's outermost colony was forgotten for 900 years -- until now. Cut off from the rest of the universe, men have become beasts of labor -- and women rule.
Arriving on the planet Antares, Adam Wade and Jake Carpenter come with a mission and a secret. Humanity has suffered from a deadly virus that has left the women barren, and the two are to seek out the last fertile members of the human race and relocate them.
When the small spaceship crashes, the two find the planet run by women ruled by Queen Sumuru, and the men slaving in primitive mines, used occasionally for procreation purposes.
The two astronauts have to overcome anti-male prejudice as well as earthquakes, a giant snake (The Snake Mother, worshipped as a Goddess by the High Priestess Taxan and her followers) and opposition from snake cult priestess Taxan, but find support in the relatively rational-minded queen Sumuru as well as her personal guard Dove and her kid brother Will.
Ultimately Taxan and her followers are defeated and Adam, Jake, Sumuru and her followers including the freed male slaves set off for an anticipated new home amongst the stars; escaping Antarres, which is due to explode from its internal pressures.
