Months after Inara leaves the Serenity, Mal finally learns a shocking reason: her companion is dying of cancer, and time is running out.

The crew is desperately looking for information that can help. Expert oncologist Eso Wen is said to have developed a treatment but was discredited and sentenced to life in prison. He is rumored to be on Atath, the infamous Alliance prison planet. The prisoners are there without protection and survive as best they can. Moreover, the terraforming of the planet has not been completed, so the world is a frozen wasteland inhabited by brutal mutants. To save Inara, the Serenity team will have to do the impossible once again...

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