This coming of age story describes the adventures of Tobias Jones, an illustrious, inquisitive young man from the Southwest. Surrounded by tragedy, Tobias develops his own code on life and learns to keep his questions to himself. Having emerged with a few answers, he carefully guards his solutions until he finds those willing to join his intrepid search for an understanding of the big picture.
Along his sojourn, he meets Carrie and Donna at a university in Dallas. A campus crisis compels Tobias to confide in Carrie and he addresses the international factors to his dilemma, which drive him to pursue a life of integrity. Leaving the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he gains a greater perspective on the hidden puppet strings programming humanity for inevitable failure. The wilderness of the Pacific Northwest inspires him to continue looking for clues on how to avert the same fate that has taken the life of his favorite ski instructor. Fascinated by the connection between the natural world and his inspiration in life, he trades in his study of industrial chemistry for a career as a naturopathic physician.
His skills as a physician earn the friendship of a hardware engineer from Silicon Valley. Joe runs his own company and his found his own answers in life. Having already enlisted the services of Carrie's expertise in astronomy, he reintroduces Carrie and Donna to Tobias. Similarly, the women have experienced more than their share of intrigue, and have resolved to get to the bottom of the world events that claim the lives of presidents as well as leading, successful private citizens. They must answer the questions that haunt them to save their lives and protect loved ones, if not the entire planet. By the time Tobias meets the women, he has a love interest and family ambitions. Not only does he examine his own family tree, but his work leads to a greater understanding of the trees of humanity, extending as far back as Eden.
With the help of Joan, a friend of Donna's, the group unravels the mysteries that they must urgently solve. As an osteopathic physician, Joan adds to their findings and wisely steers their adventures out of harm's way. The stakes become higher when Tobias has children and synarchists threaten their harmonious choices in life. Serving as a spiritual warrior, he assists the demonstration of a natural medicine professor at a prestigious international conference, where KGB agents have sabotaged operations. To protect the vital force of the planet, he accepts his father's help. Having remained in hiding for the past thirty years, his father understands the big picture, though he has never been in a position to communicate his knowledge. As they heal past traumas and programmed tragedies, Tobias and his cohorts discover secret worlds and how to use them effectively.