The messenger wanders into town from out of the wastes carrying a message he's suffered at great lengths to deliver. The people of Scanlon, the last surviving town in that part of the world, are very eager to hear what the man has to say about the people back east, who they'd given up for dead a long time ago. But when the Messenger isn't sure if these are the people for whom his message was meant, the good people of Scanlon don't take very kindly to his reluctance.