On the outskirts of the empire there is the planet Malibu, its surface is covered with salt, only here and there islands with grass and trees rise. Farmers breed tuks on them, from whose milk they produce an extremely valuable substance - malziva. And even in Malibu there is kwanzina coal, the extraction of which is carried out by fiercely competing transplanetary companies. One of the farms where the orphan Mike Bavarsky lived, who worked as a shepherd for food and shelter, was attacked by a gang of “dogs”. Mike manages to escape, but is captured by people from another gang - the Badgers. He finds a common language with them and begins his ascent from a simple “badger” to an imperial representative in Malibu.