Imagine a world in which work is rare, pot and booze flow freely, and no one seems to have any real concerns—at least no one other than a few elites who run the New Way. Such a world may appear to have few drawbacks. After all, robots have relieved mankind of the tedium of menial jobs, and totally mechanized armies fight the wars in distant countries; even the infantry consists of robotic soldiers. No one is forced to do much of anything, and people are free to pursue their own desires. Yet a father and a son, long separated but both initially dedicated to this New Way, become disenchanted and start an odyssey of renewal and reunion—one to rejoin his wife and the other his mother and father.