Space Gypsies land on Festival World and set up camp for wild trans-galactic parties once every 26 years, timed to miss the periodic rain of destructive meteorites. They trade, mingle, and mate. They attract the wealthy, the partiers, and the criminals from all the Confedi worlds, who come to spend lavishly, play elaborate games, and engage in all the dissolute activities banned on their stuffy home worlds. The former outcasts from Edge World attend for the first time, and are not welcomed.