When Tom Williams signed up for the 'Stepping into the Future' project he expected to awaken two centuries later. But when he eventually regains consciousness, Tom finds himself in a new civilization built on the ruins of the world he had known. It is Brook Wolf, a healer, who nurses Tom back to health. But Brook knows little about his ancestors, and has been warned by a green-robed priest that the Ancients had "bizarre" taboos. Brook and his sister Iris struggle to help Tom adapt to their world while simultaneously shielding him from social conventions that might offend him. Meanwhile Tom desperately tries to keep his own secret from his benefactors. He knows they live in matriarchal tribes and that they worship multiple deities, but he has no idea that so many rules concerning sexuality and social interactions have changed. It is not until the night of the Krisscorn Festival that Tom finally discovers what his companions have been keeping from him, and realizes that he has finally found a place to call home.