A man sits at a desk in a prison cell, blaming trees for his predicament. He traces the grain in the wooden surface and wishes he could use the rings to read time and the history of the wood.

Olivia is dead for a minute and ten seconds. The fall from her bed restarts her heart. She is found by her ex-husband, who rushes her to hospital. But before she can be examined, she escapes and hides in her room for two days. She remembers being dead and now sees her body as a prison. She pleads with unseen forces, desperate to know why she is alive. She skips her finals and cancels her trip home, talking at length on the phone to her father and mother. Olivia throws away all her drugs and receives her grades, which are poor.

By the time the new year arrives, her house mates return, and they are afraid of her. In turn, she notices their sadness. While sitting in a lecture, she hears from whatever forces she has been praying to. They tell her to leave. She takes her car on a long journey, along the highway through the “vacant cornfields of the true Midwest” (156).