 On Simon s birthday, Serenity s engine stops turning and an explosion knocks out auxiliary life support, severely wounding Zoe. With few options, Mal orders the rest of the crew off the ship, but he stays behind hoping for a miracle. The story is told in multiple time frames shifting from Mal s time alone on the ship to the events prior to the crew s departure. Flashbacks to Mal s initial meetings with many of his crew members are also a part of the narrative, showing how and why Mal and Zoe decided to buy the old Firefly-class ship, as well as revealing it wasn t love-at-first-sight for Zoe and Wash when he was hired as the Serenity s pilot, as well as how Inara charmed her way into letting Mal rent out one of the Serenity s shuttles for herself, how Mal met the mechanic/engineer Kaylee in a compromising position, and how the crew met Jayne who was an tough, but dumb, interplanetary bandit.