Depressed, out-of-work, out-of-confidence political lawyer E. Everton is walking in a restricted, forested area in Virginia when he encounters three objects he can only describe as "moving statues." In an overpowering, almost comically loud voice, they begin telling him preposterous things: That within a few years most of humanity will be dead; that they would like to offer everyone a dying wish; that he should "tell others." Though they prove that, in an odd way, they can grant wishes, they are not remotely interested in explaining who they are, what their motive is, how they operate, or how mankind is supposed to perish. As E. reluctantly takes on the task of "spreading the word," he is unwillingly drawn into the halls of power, tapped by the forces of would-be revolution, and enmeshed in an impossible romance. As E.'s journey progresses, thousands of lives begin to change, and even the ancient concepts of death and salvation take a strange, twisted turn.