The bees that attack a group of students at a graduation party are far from ordinary. Every student is stung once in the neck, except Madison who is stung twice and collapses.

When she wakes up she finds she is in a new strange place called Buckoway but still remembers Earth. Her friends have no memories of home. Buckoway is a strange hybrid of modern and old civilisations. There is electricity but no motor vehicles, aircraft or firearms. It is as if something wanted to recreate a simple society but with modern health and living facilities With wagonmasters, Hamish and Sean she sets out to find the reason she has been transferred to this new world.

Madison awakes from her next sleep to find herself back on Earth and again with her friends. They, however, have no memory of this Buckoway. Madison realises there are two versions of her friends. She alone seems to travel back and forth between her two existences whenever she awakens.

One of the wagonmasters' jobs is to bring in the bodies of newcomers from a strange boat called Gentle Lady. Hamish does not know where the boat comes from or who operates it. The newcomers are taken in the wagons back to Buckoway where they are awakened and join their society. No newcomers know they were originally from Earth. With help from the Earth and Buckoway versions of Kirsty, Madison attempts to find the reason for this strange situation.