A ranch family, in a remote part of Montana, is caught up by world events, as one generation after another is dragged into the Navy. The son follows his father who was killed in World War II, only to experience the near-world war terror of the Cuban Crisis. The sailor returns to the ranch and years later sees his own son join the Navy, serving in Desert Storm and the Iraq war.

The rancher is haunted by inexplicable family nightmares about another civilization whose decline was hastened by a military catastrophe in the Fertile Crescent long ago. A previously unknown son born to a black nurse is also tormented by bad dreams from the distant past which warn of future calamities.

The manuscript spans 50 years and describes how a family, so far removed from world events, can be drawn into the maelstrom of modern times. It ends with tragic Mideast echoes and a warning about the future.