The world on which we depend is coming to an end due to our uncontrolled over-consumption of natural resources and excessive waste which pollutes the environment that permits our very existence. Jack Lightfoot finds he is able to alternate between his life as a suburban child and that of a variety of wild animals with which he is able to communicate, to find out about the harm that humanity is inflicting on the natural world. Gradually the truth is revealed, if the wildlife of the earth is the canary in the mine, the implications for mankind are clear for we all drink from the same well. Everything is connected, everything in balance, everything matters. From the smallest micro-organism to the largest whale, the web of life is adapted to the wider environment which we alter at our peril.

Like the shamen of native cultures, Jack is blessed with insight and seeing. The problem is how to communicate his visions and dreams to the powers that be, for he is on a collision course with his parents, teachers, police, church and government all of whom have their own interests at heart and stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed. It becomes apparent he is not the first human to be granted such insights; he treads the path of the Celtic kings of myth and legend before the time of recorded history. Increasingly bizarre animal behaviour makes people increasingly aware of the need for change, even the politicians start to take notice and wonder how long their tenuous hold on power will last.