[1] The novel is about the conflict between two highly evolved men – Randolph Jaffe and Richard Fletcher – over the mystical dream sea called Quiddity.

The conflict between the two men spills into the real world in a decades-long feud, distorting reality and affecting the entire human race.

In 1969, while working in a dead letter office in Nebraska, disgruntled postal clerk Randolph Jaffe discovers hints to a mysterious society known as The Shoal, which ostensibly practises a form of magic only vaguely known as "The Art".

Jaffe later teams up with a scientist named Fletcher to develop a liquid called Nuncio, which can theoretically allow a human to evolve to a state that would enable him to physically reach Quiddity.

The third, Trudi Katz, moves away with her baby Howard, while the fourth, Joyce McGuire, gives birth to twins, Jo-Beth and Tommy Ray.

Jaffe is able to amass an army of creatures known as Terata using the minds of vulnerable people, and gets his son Tommy Ray on his side as well.

Fletcher is unable to amass his own army of hallucigenia from the mind of dreamers and instead kills himself through immolation, spreading his essence to the people of the town.

Leaving the time loop, Tesla encounters a woman named Mary Muralles, who reveals that it was Kissoon who murdered the Shoal and he is actually an agent of the Iad Uroboros.

Kissoon kills Mary using snake-like creatures created by his excrement and semen (Lix), then captures Raul to take over his body.

Tommy Ray leads an army of the dead while the hallucigenia created by Fletcher's death convince Howard to help them attack Jaffe.

[5] Author David Foster Wallace was also mixed in his review as he heavily criticized the work as overly pretentious but commented that the novel was "not without some cool sections".

[6] Publishers Weekly panned the work overall, stating: "Though diverting, the novel is something of a potboiler, and despite its pervasive horrific imagery, it fails even to frighten us--or invite us to suspend disbelief".