Ten prisoners condemned to exile on a hostile planet XT-59 must pave the way through swamp to reach the Islands of Happiness, the only safe area on the planet, before the harsh climate or the underground horrors kill them all.
Centers on Georg Bjarnfreðarson, an over-educated know-it-all who has just been released from jail after a ten year sentence for manslaughter, but is still a prisoner of his own past.