The United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire stand on the brink of war. Captain James T. Kirk and the
Starship Enterprise
™ are sent back to System 7348 — site of a previous skirmish with the Klingons — for a confrontation with the
I.K.S. D'k Tahg
under the command of Captain Koloth.
Even as the two great ships face each other, trouble is brewing among their crews. On the
Enterprise
, Lieutenant Leslie Parrish is pregnant with a half-Klingon child and must face a critical decision about her future, while Section Chief Michael Fuller still carries the wounds of the twenty-five-year-old Battle of Donatu V, of which he was one of the few survivors — not to mention his grief over the death of his son, recently killed in battle against the Klingons.
On the
D'k Tahg
, First Officer Karel finds himself trapped between the scheming, dishonorable Councillor Duras and his commanding officer, Koloth. While the stakes only seem to be the possession of a single star system, the ramifications may spread throughout the Klingon Empire, as they find themselves at a crossroads between conquest and honor!