Shortly after the Battle of Hoth, the leader of the upstart criminal syndicate Zerek Besh, Sliro Barsha, murders the leaders of his rival syndicates in a bid to consolidate his power. Meanwhile, Kay Vess seeks a way to escape her homeworld of Cantonica and start a new life in the Core Worlds. Desperate, she takes up a job with a crew led by Dennion, who plan to break into Sliro's vault and steal his fortune.

Kay successfully opens the vault, only to be surprised when Dennion's crew reveal themselves to be part of the Rebel Alliance, and their real objective was to free their team leader, Asara Deyn, who was being held prisoner by Sliro. Kay demands payment from Dennion but is shot by a stun blast and forced to escape on her own. Believing Kay is responsible for the break-in, Sliro puts a death mark on her head. Kay steals a ship called the Trailblazer and makes an emergency jump to the planet Toshara, but is forced to crash land due to damage to the ship.

On Toshara, Kay meets Waka, a mechanic willing to repair the Trailblazer, but Kay has to do jobs for the local syndicates to earn the money to pay for the parts. As Kay gets the Trailblazer repaired and performs jobs for the local syndicates, she is soon forced to choose which syndicates to curry favor with, either assisting or betraying them at several opportunities. Eventually, she manages to salvage a replacement nav computer from a shipwreck only to be double-crossed by Waka, but he is killed by the bounty hunter Vail Tormin, who is after Kay's death mark.

Kay is saved by outlaw Jaylen Vrax and his droid enforcer ND-5. Jaylen asks for Kay's participation in breaking into Sliro's vault again to steal his fortune, and instructs her to gather the necessary crew members to pull off the heist. Kay and ND-5 then travel around the galaxy to recruit crew members. On Kijimi, she frees their safecracker, Ank Parako, from the clutches of the Ashiga Clan. On Tatooine, she searches for their heavy, Hoss, but they, along with Vail, run afoul of Jabba the Hutt.

Hoss is killed while Kay and Vail are forced to work together to escape, with both women earning each other's respect. On Akiva, she searches for the droidsmith Gedeek Obaz and helps him hijack the Empire's Viper Droid project for the Rebel Alliance to secure his loyalty. However, before they can recruit a slicer, ND-5 begins to malfunction due to its power core failing.

Kay and Gedeek enter an abandoned Separatist factory only to run into Asara's Rebel cell. ND-5 is repaired, and Asara decides to join the crew as their heavy. Jaylen also recruits Riko Vess, an expert slicer and Kay's estranged mother, who abandoned her as a child.