The overarching story of this book deals with the effects on society when normal people begin sprouting angelic wings.

The story follows two main characters; Alexander 'Zander' Wiles is a petty crook suffering from acute agoraphobia, and Cassandra 'Cassie' O'Conner, a psychiatrist specializing in 'angels' and author of a pop-psychology book titled Angel Blues.

Cassie drags him to shore and calls paramedics, eventually having to instruct them on how to set the broken bones.

As the condition was completely unknown at the time, he thought he was simply dying and holed up in a rent-a-cottage facility, ordering in pizza and beer.

Eventually, when he began growing the hard green casing that is the first visible sign, he realized he had something new and became an all-out hermit.

Once the wings had sprouted, Zander contacted his old drug buddy and the pair worked out a scam to get money from elderly people.

Eventually, Cassie moved to Ann Arbor and started attending the University of Michigan's medical college.