Within the exaggerated isolation of his home life, the young Jimmy Bucklesmith is suddenly aware of the compromises that his parents have made in order to fit comfortably into the life around them. He becomes restless and, after an incident at school, in which the focus of the playground is kind to him,he is invited to do a day's work by one of the more influential students in the school.The following morning, he nervously leaves his apartment and is immediately immersed in the complex human environment which spills out onto the congested streets. In a slightly futuristic age, the technology is both physically available and morally acceptable to change body form, and some individuals, like his parents, take extreme measures to adapt their bodies to cope with the rigors of social expectation or the demands of their own self-perception.If Jimmy has to overcome his own inherent difficulties he, like anyone else,has to contend with the dark side of life which is forever waiting in the wings to predate upon the unwary and the insecure, and success in personal survival always depends upon he strength of the spirit within.