When Mal takes on two new passengers--a young doctor, Simon Tam and his unstable, telepathic sister, River Tam -- he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, the Alliance, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl.

A year ago, Simon busted River from a top secret Alliance government facility that were performing horrible experiments on her. Trying to turn her into the ultimate military weapon.

The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space.