Tedla is a "bland," an asexual class of people who exist only to serve their fellow beings. Val is an expert on alien cultures but has never seen a bland before. They come together after Tedla is found light-years away from its home planet—alone, isolated and suicidal. Val's mission is to help Tedla recover. But the more she learns about the beautiful alien being, the more she discovers about the torment Tedla and its kind suffer on their planet. Halfway Human is a mesmerizing look at an intricately created alien world that is strange and distant, yet hauntingly familiar.