Planet Earth, reduced by global warming to an apocalyptic wilderness, finds its inhabitants decimated by a reawakened Mesozoic plague. Then, rising from millions of years of hibernation, a breed of reasoning dinosaurs, Troodons, enter what is left of a world devastated by the human species and plague. Foretelling the return of creatures "wise and wonderful," Longeyes, a seer of the Salish tribe, handpicks a small band of humans to greet the Troodons. Max, a paleontologist long-ridiculed by colleagues for his theory that dinosaurs achieved sentience during their 160-million-year reign, is central to Longeyes' spiritual quest. On a collision course with Longeyes is a titanium magnate whose billions have flowed from building domed cities for the wealthy in the American wasteland. Applying his "whatever works" approach and enormous wealth, Gregor sets out to exploit the Troodon visitors and kill anyone who stands in his way. Gregor's illegitimate son Guy, a former eco-terrorist, is being pursued by the federal police. Guy renounces his mission of destroying the domed bastions of the privileged in exchange for a more constructive goal: building a community in the midst of his father's empire in the pollution-free Northwestern U.S. Conflict among five equally-passionate groups, with species survival as the prize, forces a clash that will determine the fate of Earth's first masters and the remnants of the human race.