In a world strangely reminiscent of 1950s America, ardent pacifist Carney Caldwell is arrested for allegedly punching his best buddy into a coma, but he has no clear recollection of what happened that night. Following a week in jail, he awakes in a hospital, suffering from shock. Pumped full of calming medications, he reflects on the bizarre series of events that led to his predicament: the gradual disintegration of his beloved childhood gang, the Arch Angels, his unrequited love for Dakota, their ill-fated dalliance with illegal substances, and his slow descent into a black hole of mental instability and delusions.

An enigmatic radio salesman visits Carney's bedside and, under the guise of a new treatment called ‘distraction therapy’, tells him the tale of a shy orphan boy named Doran, who lived on the planet's other continent. The story contains uncanny parallels to Carney's own, and as it unfolds, he begins to question not only his identity, but everything he used to believe and hold dear about his planet.