Imagine a world in which Teddy Roosevelt is elected to a third term and leads America directly into World War I.A world in which the consequent terms of the Versailles Treaty propose a much gentler reconciliation between Allied and Central powers. A world in which neither World War II-nor the Holocaust-ever occurs, though European skirmishes abound. It's into this world, present millennium, where Martin Gidron has placed both Janusz, who's fled Poland to avoid a Russian draft, and his lover Irena, daughter of a famous composer. When Irena travels to Greece for her father's funeral, things start unravelling for Janusz: people and business establishments having Jewish connections disappear, literally without a trace or even memory, from New York City where Janusz has illegally emigrated. Then the Jewish daily newspaper where Janusz works switches overnight from Yiddish to English. And what are these strange letters that Janusz receives at his apartment, offering a "credit card, " whatever that might be? The discovery that Janusz is cast into by the novel's end is as harrowing in its particularity as it is in its universality.