In the future physical impediments to immortality have been overcome. As society approaches the prospect of eternal life, a new problem arises. The threat of the brain's storage capacity being overwhelmed. Rejuvenated bodies require rejuvenated identities, so all traces of a person's past are erased and new fictitious memories are implanted instead. On occasion, though, cracks emerge, and reminders of discarded lives seep through. Doctor Frank Sina specializes in sealing these memory leaks. He is content with his own fiction, but one day, Presley Smith arrives in Frank's office with persistent thoughts that torture Presley. As he tries to save Presley from the onslaught of memory, Frank finds clues that suggest Presley's past may be located in war-torn, nuclear-ravaged Maskinia. Frank's suspicions are intensified when the Department of Internal Security takes an interest in Presley. As Frank tries to save Presley from both internal and external threats, cracks emerge in his own fiction, and the memories that sneak through suggest a connection with Presley that goes well beyond doctor and patient.