The Doctor, Sam and Fitz land on the Vega station, a pleasure center given over to gambling, shopping and the Arts. It hangs on the edge of Battrulian Space, close to the Earth colony's frontier with the Canvine, huge, wolf-like dog creatures.

The Earth colony president is arriving to attend an exhibition of the 3-D reality scans in oil paintings of Toulour Martinique. But the Doctor soon discovers there is more to the paintings than meets the eye. A dark secret is hidden behind the shallow delights of the station, and it seems that it is not only the President who is marked for death but the Doctor and his friends, too.