The narrative concerns itself with two of the most influential figures of the 20th century, as Adolf Hitler appears as an important character, and allusions are made to Albert Einstein and the theory of relativity.

Marc leaves town the night he sees a strange man die at his mother's feet, and spends fifteen years on the boat, never setting foot in town, until he meets a girl in a blue dress, who never returns with the other tourists.

Their meeting conjures up the ghost of the man who died fifteen years before, and his story takes over the novel.

After killing a brother and burning down the ranch house where he grew up, Jainlight moves to New York City, where he becomes a writer of pornographic stories.

Jainlight finds his way to Davenhall, where he lives for seventeen years in the hotel with Marc and Dania, trying to summon up the courage to ask for forgiveness.

On the night Marc leaves town, Jainlight knows his life is slipping away, and he staggers down the hall, hoping to have time to ask Dania's forgiveness, but dies before doing so.

After her death, Marc goes to chase after the girl in the blue dress, and winds up traveling through time, going from the end of the century back to its beginning.