After his daughter coughed herself to death and his wife left for the city, Frank hid in their house. Even while riots captured the downtown, smoke rose from the neighbourhood, and his water was cut off, he refused to leave. With only a pool in his basement and a huge bag of rice to survive, he is coming apart as rapidly as his society.

When he goes down an alley to kill a dying cat and finds a child, Kaela's need rescues him from the flames that reach out from the increasingly dangerous city. To distract her from the chaos, Frank tells her about an orderly main street, a library and school, stores, and other impossible remnants of their disintegrating society. Although his description sounds more like a myth than reality, on the road they meet others like themselves, dreamers searching for peace and security. Unfortunately, there are also those who repay kindness with malice, and generosity with greed, and Frank and Kaela's bond is tested in a world without police and the rule of law.

Join Frank and Kaela as they negotiate their deteriorating world. With only their dreams of a better life to guide them, and their love to hold them together, they look for a place worthy of a child who has been burned before.