In the novel, Taylor is a chemist working for GEE, a fictional environmental activism group which stages both protests and direct actions plugging toxic waste pipes.

Basco experiments with genetic engineering to develop chemical producing microbes, driving Taylor's efforts to expose their crimes and preserve Boston Harbor.

In the story it is frequented by drugged-out and reputedly Satanic groupies of the "two-umlaut" heavy metal music band, Pöyzen Böyzen, who are too intoxicated with angel dust to realize they are poisoning themselves with the toxic waste that was dumped there.

Taylor's projects involve sampling the concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls in Boston Harbor with the help of the Gallaghers, a fishing family who record the location of the lobsters they catch.

He eventually discovers that Basco has acquired a bioengineering firm, where his high school nemesis is employed as a genetic engineer, to create a bacterium that is able to digest toxins, cleaning up the harbor instantly.