"On a night like this, man, hurtling through conflagration, old light hangs in the mind. All of us reading by one star, not enough illumination to decipher the stones or grasp the myriad prophecies lost to sleight of hand."

An apocalyptic fire consumes Alex Mann's hometown in New Mexico. His father and his best friend are both killed in the disaster, leaving him with a harrowing secret about his role in their deaths. Scarred in mind and body, he embarks on a protean struggle to recreate himself. The kaleidoscopic twists of his journey reveal facets of a Mann he never knew.