A cure for Alzheimer's Disease, initially a voyage of scientific discovery, becomes, with his mother's diagnosis, Gar's personal crusade. His training in biophysics, coupled with the electronic genius of his friend Stan, produces an implantable chip that, although untested, promises the possibility of recovery. Unbeknownst to Gar, Stan implants the chip into the brain of Gar's stricken mother. Despite a startling initial recovery, she descends into madness and ends her life in suicide, precipitating the near fatal dissolution of Gar's friendship with Stan. After anguish over his role in his mother's death propels years of aimless wandering, Gar refocuses his career on neuropsychology. While serving as an intern at a clinic for high-profile clients, the President's brother-in-law, Murray, obviously hallucinating, is admitted after an unprovoked sniper attack on anonymous pedestrians. Shortly thereafter, both the President and Vice-president succumb to Murray syndrome. The clinic staff is secretly flown to the White House to search for a cure. Sweeping through the general population, chaos ensues as Murray syndrome shuts down the capacity for self-examination and releases individuals to act out their most elemental fantasies. The National Security Agency shuts down all communications. The White House becomes an armed camp as FBI agents and soldiers, falling victim to the dementia, become an internal threat. A man from Gar's past, now stricken with Murray's syndrome, contacts Gar and offers himself as a guinea pig in the frantic race to discover the cause of and cure for the chaotic global disaster.