One morning Rensor Devons is awaken by buckling sounds as his aluminum trailer heats up in the early morning sun. Renser must go to town to get his chainsaw repaired. He is not a simple man, though he cuts firewood for a living. Hiding out in the rugged mountains of the Pacific north-west from humanity, a failed marriage and an intolerant and disappointing teaching career, he tries to focus on the daily chore of cutting firewood. Two punctured tires on an isolated mountain road change his simple life.

Those flats and an absolute belief in ultimate truth, the mountains and Zenn lead him to a beautiful woman, a series of confrontations with desperate cult killers, the flood of the century and a lifelong friendship with local Indians. His unwavering faith and trust in the mountain and the river and his absolute belief in Buddhism forge a trilogy for Rensor and he is forced to risk his life on his strong beliefs.