Gerald, a pedant and survivalist, has always followed written instructions—even in a lifeless nuclear wasteland. His dream girl, Amanda, shares Gerald's fallout shelter but not his annoying obsession with rules. Gerald escapes her foul mood by donning a hazmat suit and working on the radioactive car. She escapes him with pain meds.

On this force-marched adventure through the nuked city, the dystopian nightmares and societal leftovers reveal themselves: lewd robots built to harass, humans harvested for fuel, and a population craving death. Worst of all, these monstrosities arose before the bomb blast. But Gerald will soon confront a devastation many times worse.