Longhorne lived alone and he understood that he would die alone. Only behind the walls of his isolation, could he attain the order and calm that he required; only there could he find the peace that made his existence bearable. Insulated also from his feelings and memories, he hoped for nothing, demanded nothing, expected nothing. Until his thirty-first birthday...

A trivial incident initiates a cascade of experiences until control of his carefully regulated mind is wrested from him, changing the course of his life and the lives of others. In the space of a few days, every protective barrier that he had painstakingly fashioned is breached until he is forced to confront the truth about his past: the truth about himself.

Step by step, he realises that the mysterious and powerful forces that have taken control of him are not external; in ways that he cannot fully fathom, they are part of him, and he is part of them. In connecting with himself, has he stumbled upon something fundamental that lies at the heart of all human existence?