Katherine was the wife of a prominent party member of Pater Aeternus which is the governing party of a fascist galaxy-spanning empire.  But since her husband died, she finds herself inheriting a fortune; money enough to do anything she pleases.  And what she pleases is to create a better world.

Katherine has always been miserable despite her wealth and privilege; her days are endured, not lived.  Then she is confronted with an appealing idea: buy a planet and create a better world.  The biggest question is whether Pater Aeternus will allow it. She meets a student in the library who is very helpful in directing her to books that give her a little insight.  He also provides a new word for her dream:  democracy.

Julian is a hypersled driver; one of the very best in the universe.  Hypersledding is a very fannish sport and Pater Aeternus has contracted Julian to race for them.  The idea is that Pater Aeternus will show the universe that no one can beat them.  Julian doesn't really care so long as he can race and have money to burn.  But when he loses a race; they take off the kid gloves and make it very clear to him just what is expected.  It is clearly explained to him that not only will he never lose another race but that his homosexual adventures are to end immediately.  Meanwhile, since his loss, public opinion is leaning heavily towards hate and murder. Julian decides the best option is to simply leave as soon as his contract is finished.  What he failed to understand about signing a contract with a fascist government is that his contract is complete when they say it is and no sooner; maybe never.  To bolster his public image, he is made to engage in a sexual liaison with a woman to convince the public he is other than he really is.  The woman is also being coerced into the performance.

Cyprian is a low-level crime investigator.  He used to be a higher-level operative but fell victim to a political purge.  His children were taken away to be re-educated and his wife suicided.  His life changes when he's assigned a case of a drowned man with no identification.  Through happenstance, an ID is finally made and the man turns out to be the previous hypersled team's chief engineer; the team that disappeared once Julian was contracted.  To Cyprian's bewilderment, powerful people want him to close the case without the ID.

None of the three people know each other but they have a lot in common.  Each of them is being controlled or coerced by two feuding factions in the government.  And each of them has to figure out how to keep both factions either happy or ignorant.

In Katherine's case, she needs to continue to project compliance with the Party while financing her new planet with security, colonists, and supplies; all with the stated purpose of utilizing only the Party's cast-offs and dregs of society - the exact people she wishes to save and provide a better life for.  It's a fine line for her to tread; appearing to be creating another world for the benefit of the Party while subversively creating a democracy.

In Ciprian's case, he has both a carrot and a stick driving him.  His handlers don't hesitate to either threaten to kill his children or to return them to him.  His is a fine line, as well; one blackmailer wants him to identify the murdered man and the other blackmailer wants him to bury the case.  And he has no idea why the dead man is so important to either of them.

Julian just wants to live long enough to escape but now he also wants to save the woman who was forced on him. And, if fortune smiles, her child, as well.

All three eventually come together for the benefit of Katherine's planet.  But the real surprise is how and why all three were completely manipulated in all their choices and actions.

The worldbuilding dictates this is a science fiction story but the plot doesn't really rely on any elements that define as science fiction.  It's more mainstream in that the discussion is all about fascism and then devolves into devious machinations done by essentially good people to achieve a worthy goal. There is some melodrama but no romance.  It wasn't terrible but it wasn't terribly interesting to this reader, either. The writing was good; the plot was good in that it wove together three plotlines; although it wasn't very exciting or suspenseful. It was, unfortunately, not a great example of this author's work.  ~~ Catherine Book