In 1976 graduate student Adam Reardon's fiancee Lis and her children vanished. Officially, they died in a tragic house fire. In reality they escaped the fire- and worse- through an impossible portal to another world. The portal closed before Adam could follow: he was nearly killed, and survived only to have his incredible memories of that night dismissed as shock-induced delusion. For half his life Adam has suffered from nightmares and depression; knowing the truth, but gradually coming to accept that nothing can possibly be done about it. Then, twenty years after the fire, extraordinary, alarming things begin to happen. Adam, now a successful architect, discovers proof of Lis' survival, and realizes he can not turn his back on the slim chance of finding her, though it means losing everything he has. Armed with a mysterious fragment of ancient high-tech, and aided by an old friend who also knows what really took place in l976, Adam decides to try reopening the portal. But others have their own sinister plans for it. Unbeknownst to Adam, events already underway will soon put him at the center of a long-deferred battle that may well determine the fate of all Humanity."