The story opens with the narrator, an adolescent boy named Gan, describing an evening at home with his mother, brother and sisters on what he calls his last night of childhood. A strange visitor, T’Gatoi, has come over to give his family several eggs. The eggs prolong life and promote health, but Gan notices his mother won’t have any. The eggs lull the family into a peaceful, drug-like state, and the narrator states that he gets one egg all to himself to eat. He is close to T’Gatoi, apparently laying flush against her as he sips the liquid from his egg. He feels closely-bonded to her, and enjoys being her favorite, though he doesn’t know why. T’Gatoi is a government official: “It was an honor, my mother said, that such a person had chosen to come into the family. My mother was at her most formal and severe when she was lying” (2).

Humans, called Terrans, live on a preserve on the alien planet with the Tlic, the planet’s natives. Humans are farmed out to the needy or given to the wealthy for breeding by T’Gatoi’s political party: “Thus, we were necessities, status symbols, and an independent people” (3).