The book is an ambitious novel developing three story levels. On the personal level the story of a couple deep in love but trying to reconcile very different worldviews. In the middle the efforts of a small group of people on different sides of many issues to deal with their beliefs and conflicts. And on the largest scale, the effects on everyone from the growing world's increasingly polarized and explosive politics and environmentalism. Jacket Summary:Its over. Gilbert and Sophie have survived. They have nothing left to do but enjoy the unearned spoils of a struggle totally out of their control.This isn't exactly what they fought for, to say the least, but what they have learned and the satisfaction that came with it is worth far more than what they surrendered.

Looking back, the circumstances under which they met were what books are made of and for. They were 'chemistry' personified. seldom are two people so much and so equally attracted. But the physical was balanced by the gulf between their world views. The way they each saw the world was a microcosm of the polarization of politics and world view in the late 1900s and the new millennium. There is a battle for the hearts and minds of the electorate. There is a battle for good and evil. Their world was either in its death throws or on the brink of another great awakening.

Together, Gil and Jane learn to understand each other while they fight for sanity in their complex world.Social/political forces are driving their country increasingly into two camps; us and them; liberal and conservative; Christian and Muslim; Capitalist and Socialist. They try to avoid paranoia as their lives come under attack and praise and it becomes difficult to tell the difference. Who are your friends? Who is the enemy?As these philosophical views polarize seven billion people to the point of rage and world war, Gil and Jane come face to face with an enemy whose evil is more than they could imagine and the world can sustain. As the rage boils over, some are caught in the roiling heat and some are raised in the steam.