In this fifth installment in The Borrowed World Series, Human Resources Manager Alice Watkins is finally making it home. In her journey across Virginia, she experiences a country disintegrating and collapsing in on itself in the wake of a nationwide terror attack. Her trip home is agonizing; her experiences indescribable.

She finds that her peaceful farm community is experiencing the same strife as the rest of the nation. As her world is further shaken by a series of devastating occurrences, she comes to realize that she has been profoundly and irreversibly changed by her agonizing experiences on the road. She is both emotionally blunted and wickedly violent. She cannot feel love, nor does she feel the slightest remorse at taking someone’s life.

In an attempt to find safety for her family, she must reconnect with the former coworkers that she started this journey with. She discovers the group struggling with their own problems, finding that in this borrowed world there is no promise of safety, no peace, and no promise of tomorrow.