It has been fifty-six hard years since the events of The Machine Crusade. Synchronized Worlds and Unallied Planets are liberated. the human worlds begin to hope that the end of the centuries-long conflict with the thinking machines is finally in sight. Unfortunately, Omnius has one last, deadly card to play. In a last-ditch effort to destroy humankind, virulent plagues are let loose throughout the galaxy, decimating the populations of whole planets....

As the struggle against the thinking robots continues, Serena Butler's forces continue their battle and Selim Wormrider and his Fremen outlaws take the first step into becoming the fighters who would change history