The world is in turmoil, facing inertias on both a conscious and subconscious level, which no one quite knows how to stop. James Black, also known primarily as "The Scientist," was just dabbling around in a makeshift lab he had created for himself, when after combining a plethora of random variables together, he made a discovery that changed everything...and showed him everything for better or for worse. He created the first time machine, but it was far more than just that.
As The Scientist continued to plumb the depths of this new device, which he quickly discovers allows him to traverse time and space as if having a boat in a river--making the trips simple and workaday--he also quickly discovers just how massive of an undertaking it will be for him to do any amount of good with it, maybe perhaps, even a hopeless one.
As you read, you can join him on his odyssey through infinite parallel realities, near-infinite spans of time and space, and a veritable hell of tragedy, pain, and suffering that ultimately gives way after untold effort and resistance to the only future that exists past the Great Divide, a future that only exists if The Scientist never gives up.
You will find that he never does.