It is the year 211 A.L. (representing present-day) on the alternative world called The Confederate States of America -- only one of many alternative worlds that, in one way or another, parallels the USA. In the Confederate States, no law is truly law. No Government exists, no taxes, no police, drugs are available in street vending machines, and everyone carries a gun. Yet, there's greater peace amid this confusion than anywhere else -- until a group called the Franklinites intervene. The Franklinites claim that there are major problems surfacing within the Confederacy, mainly due to the immigrants (persons from other realities fleeing to the Confederacy for true freedom), and they demand a Government -- the element at the base of every evil and loss of freedom in all worlds. Nonetheless, the Franklinites are determined to bring about regulations, and take drastic terrorist action, murdering thousands of innocent people in order to terrify the, up until now, crimeless Confederacy into submission.
But the Franklinites commit the mistake of murder while detective "Win" Bear is present. Himself an immigrant from our reality who knows what a horrible entity Government is, Win investigates. What follows is a suspenseful, action-filled, exciting sequel to L. Neil Smith's award-winning The Probability Broach.
