Waldo Stanton, a high-technology executive, takes a frightening but revelatory journey from Manhattan to Los Angeles in the last two months of 1999. Waldo suffers from paranoid schizophrenic psychosis, and his condition has been worsened by his psychiatrist, who has his own strange agenda.
Following some life-changing and traumatizing incidents, Waldo heads west to confront the person he suspects is responsible: Richard Light, CEO of a shadowy, Los Angeles-based corporate empire that controls his company.
Light seeks to perfect a drug called “the Fictionalizer,” which could purportedly modify reality itself. As Waldo travels cross country, he invades several of Light’s heavily guarded office buildings to uncover information about the development effort.
But as the narrative progresses, questions arise: How much of this journey is “fact,” how much “fiction”? Who is who in the world of Waldo’s multiple personalities? Will Waldo find Light? Will the Fictionalizer work? If so, what does Light intend to do with it?