Like Nerilka's Story, The Renegades of Pern is a departure from the normal perspective for the dragonrider books. Again like Nerilka's Story, it presents a parallel viewpoint, this time running concurrent with the original trilogy; the book begins at the time of Dragonflight and ends a little after the ending of The White Dragon. It tells several stories, tied together by the figure of Thella, renegade sister of the ruler of Telgar. The exploration of the Southern Continent and discovery of ancient human relics there (including the activities of Piemur and Menolly from the Harper Hall trilogy there) also figure into the novel. The novel ends where All the Weyrs of Pern begins.