Tod is a non-verbal autistic boy. He is given a rare opportunity to communicate in a ?frozen moment? in time when he meets his soul. One night a light draws his attention to a crack in his backyard. The bright light is coming up through the crack. He investigates and is startled by a whisper. It comes from an odd creature that was formed by the trunk and limbs of a juniper bush that has been partially removed. The whisper invites him to climb on the back of the creature to be taken to ?The Continuum of Know?. Here he meets a mirror image of himself who informs him that the crack has formed because a large chunk of the earth is breaking off. Tod has been chosen as the one to close it. The mirror image is the ?idea? of Tod. It tells him that they are in a ?frozen moment in Time. The ?idea?, who is called Ide, invites Tod's imagination to leave his body and join him. Neither entity now has substance. They are free to travel through time and space. They cannot participate in events. The can only observe. The purpose of their travel is to allow Tod to trace his DNA through several ancestors and learn how and why he was chosen. They visit the Sea of Galilee, Slave days South, the Great Chicago Fire, the Depression Era and the Crucifixion.
When they return to the back yard, Tod meets his Guardian Angel who tells why the crack is there and what he must do to close it. He has a choice: close it or let the earth fall apart and be destroyed. He learns that to close it will cost him his life and, most importantly, his soul.