USA of the second half of this century. White Americans have become a national minority. Budget deficit. Roadblocks. Hordes of biotech nomads. Plus, there is also the Cold War with Holland. The state is practically incompetent: the Extraordinary Committees rule the roost. The state is almost dead, but politics is still alive. And it still employs sober people, such as the main character of the novel, Oscar Valparaiso. An excellent organizer with a successful career and a sincere desire to revive America from the ashes of collapse. He is confident that he can solve all of America's problems. But can he solve his own problem? The problem of a person who cannot even say about himself that he was ever born... The picture of the future in Sterling’s novel may seem completely alien only to those who do not see its origins already here, in the present. Just look around!