Dr. Andy Shaw is a physician born in 1991 and living in 2023. Suddenly, he undergoes involuntary time-travel to 2405 and finds that his profession is treated with utter disdain. In the future, the population is stable, with no natural births; Only a death can lead to the formation of a new embryo. The result is a death-ambivalent society, as controlled genetics ensures that each successive generation better benefits mankind as a whole. By killing the weak and deformed, poverty and disease are eliminated, and humanity has an optimal chance of survival. Furthermore, a single race derived from the mixing of races controls this futuristic world, as white people became extinct centuries ago.
After Shaw treats a dying woman (not knowing that this is considered a heinous crime in this time period), Chancellor Al Stenogh exiles him to Mars, but stops the spaceship en route. is released, and Shaw is returned to an uninhabited Earth in the future. , Upon finding a marker with instructions on how to operate the time travel controls on the spaceship, he is directed to a Native American-style tribal lodge, where he undergoes surgery to restore the life of a cryogenically suspended time traveler, Korith. Will have to do it, later he died after being hit by an arrow 35 years ago. Shaw retrieves the missile but it is later mysteriously reinserted into Korith's body.
To resolve the situation, Andy travels with Corith's relatives back to Corith's previous assignment in 1579 on the Pacific Coast of North America, where Corith was to kill Sir Francis Drake in order to change history and the Native American way of life. Can protect, avoid their subordination. by European colonial powers. While witnessing an assassination attempt on Drake, Andy learns that Drake is actually Chancellor Stanogh. It seems that in an ironic twist of fate, Stanogh has replaced Drake long enough to ensure that Korith's mission is a failure. Andy tries to warn Corith, but Corith realizes that Andy is a disguised white man and attacks him. In the ensuing struggle, Andy inadvertently stabs Corith in the heart with a replica of the arrow, intended to make it appear that Drake was killed by a Native American of that time.
In retaliation, Andy is left stranded by Corith's relatives in 1597, a year in which European explorers distance themselves for many years to come. But Andy is quickly saved by Corith's daughter, Loris, when she learns that she is pregnant with Andy's child.
While briefly back in 2405, Andy learns that the arrow in Korith's chest was removed after it mysteriously reappeared after he apparently used his arrow a second time to cover his tracks. Was murdered. Had Corith recovered, he would have discovered that it was Andy who had killed him, and an oblivious Andy would have been left helpless at the hands of Corith's relatives from before. As he stands over Korith, ready to kill him a second time, he decides against it and flees. But a pent-up curiosity compels him to return again. He sees two unknown men shooting Korith with another arrow. Andy learns that the killers are the children he will meet with Loris one day, and he travels back to 2405 from the even more distant future.
His children take Andy forward in time to meet Loris again, and he struggles with the decision to return to 2023. Eventually he goes back the same day he left and goes to Bindas's wife who had seen him off earlier that morning. He resumes his old life with a new assignment.
Andy later designs the stone marker that will ultimately save his life on that desolate earth.
