[3] At the beginning of the story Ray Talloway (Neale Donald Walsch) is a construction manager whose business is near bankruptcy.

His semi-estranged daughter Cheryl (Sarah Rutan) quarrels with him on the slightest pretext, while her husband Alex (Gregory Linington) is one of a small group of minor criminals.

One night, Alex takes Cheryl to a "party" that promises something exciting to happen to the participants (presumably overuse of drugs).

He goes to the police station, arriving deep in telephone conversation with one of his business partners, who warns him of protest by environmentalists at the site of one of his latest projects.

The sight of the crowd protesting his efforts to eradicate a forest to make room for a new highway, combined with the effect of having his daughter arrested, causes him to experience a small nervous breakdown.

Upon her reappearance, Grace is revealed to have developed her supermundane abilities to the point where they are unsettling to Ray, who unceremoniously kidnaps her with her consent and aid.

Ray and Grace later drive north to Ashland, Oregon, where they think to hide until Cheryl's parole takes effect.

The hotel manager is astonished next morning when Grace brings his father, who suffers a severe case of Alzheimer's disease, into waking consciousness.

He reacts with the accusation that it is the work of the devil, whereupon Ray and Grace leave, while the father and son begin to reconcile.

One of the teenagers, Logan (played by Neale's son, Karus Walsch), is disturbed by Grace's recounting a story of his childhood that revives painful memories.