The United States lost the war with itself.

Jake Culver was one of the soldiers who figured out he was working for the wrong side, but not before he'd been marked a traitor. Disappearing into the desert, he re-emerged in the newly independent California and built a new life there. Until his secrets caught up with him.

Now he's trapped into doing a job for the state, forced to return to the last place he wanted to see again, at least on this side of the border with the Federal States. Riding the black traces of memory, Jake is torn between what he left behind and a darker future opening before him.

A future that should not be real but is.