[1] The collapse of civilization around the world has resulted from massive environmental changes and global disease, which were attributed to large-scale pollution.

With a range of members privileged by virtue of education and monetary resources, one large family founds an isolated community in an attempt to survive the still-developing global disasters.

As the death toll rises, mainly to disease and nuclear warfare, they discover that the human population left on earth is universally infertile.

The original members of the community, too old and outnumbered by the clones to resist, are forced to accept the new social order and the complications that arise.

[4] As the old generation dies out and the clones seek to expand their territory, they quickly discover that prolonged separation from other members of their group produces irreversible psychological stress.

He returns to the community twenty years later to discover that in the wake of this disaster, the clones, unable to survive with their limited adaptability, have perished and the village has been destroyed.

At novel's end, Mark returns to the community he created, where all of the children and younger generations, products of conventional reproduction, continue to thrive.

The novel makes a passing reference to the end of global warming due to a decline in human pollution: The winters were getting colder, starting earlier, lasting longer, with more snows than he could remember from childhood.

She is a passionate person who seeks to help those suffering from the increasing global catastrophes, and assists with the development of sustainable farming methods in struggling countries.

Molly is a crew member of the first expedition to the outer cities, included for her ability to sketch and location memory, she suffers greatly from prolonged separation from her sisters.