"The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five" differs from the other books in the "Canopus in Argos" series in that it reads like a fable and is set in a metaphysical, or "psychic" space, outside the rest of the series' "normal" space/time universe. The story concerns two ordained marriages that link the patriarchal and militaristic Zone Four with the matriarchal and egalitarian Zone Three, and the tribal and barbaric Zone Five. It focuses on, what "Time" magazine reviewer Paul Gray calls, the "struggles between men and women and the dimensions of sex and love". Literary critic Diana Sheets says that the book is about overcoming gender differences and opening up new possibilities. She argues that the premise of the story is that "cosmic order is ideally realized when men and women cross the gender divide and attempt genuine communication—sexually, emotionally ... thereby setting the preconditions for the attainment of enlightened consciousness."