Alexander Mackenzie is a scientist who worked for the Manhattan Project for over four years. His wife, Phoebe, had attended a Quaker college and has a close college friend she believes has gone back to live in Hiroshima. On the morning of August 7, 1945, Phoebe wakes up from a horrible nightmare about an explosion killing hundreds or even thousands of people. Alexander wakes up five minutes later and looks out the window in time to see Phoebe reading the day's newspaper with huge headlines and then walking back to the house with the most horrified expression on her face. The rest of the novel explores the psyches and interactions of Alexander and Phoebe and goes in a variety of probably unexpected directions.

in a household that for many years was full of tension and anger. This is his first novel. He blends fact and fiction throughout: a factual history of portions of his parents' lives, together with what he imagines could have gone on inside such people's heads during and after World War II.