The year is 2260, twelve years have passed since the Minbari destroyed the Earth. The Earth fleet, with the help of its allies, the Shadows, turned the tide of the war and turned Minbari into poisoned ash. Sinoval's attempt to reassert his power over the surviving Minbari was thwarted by the unexpected appearance of their greatest prophet and leader, returning at last after a thousand years of absence.

Valen returned to Minbar, devastated by war and chaos. But will it ease Minbari's problems - or add new ones to them? What are the secrets of the great prophet, and how are they related to the secrets of Sinoval? The answer is hidden in the events of twelve years ago... when a race on the verge of extinction desperately tried to save itself; he binds a warlord named Sinoval, a Satai named Delenn, and an Earthling... named Geoffrey Sinclair.