Synopsis: From the front flap of the Tor first edition: "John Tietjen loves the streets of the city more than anything. Even as other citizens retreat past doormen and barbed wire, sealing away the ever increasing dirt and crime, John walks the length and breadth of the city unafraid. The, while John is out of town at a conference, confused reports come from New York. Millions of refugees are streaming out, each bearing contradictory tales of fire, earthquake, explosions, collapse. The authorities begin to seal it off. No one can answer John's questions. Making his perilous way back, he gathers a few survivors to him and establishes a shelter. But the full nature of the catastrophe is still unclear, for its roots line in mystery, in wounds to a human heart. As he re-homesteads the city he loves, and wonders whether help from outside will ever arrive, John will come face-to-face with the terrible truth, and with his unique chance to redeem it."