President Bessie May Chowder, of the new nation of Cascadia, faces daunting odds, as she tries a last-chance gamble to save her fledgling democracy. Pawnee Painter, rogue adventurer, Hawaiian surf bum, and soldier of fortune, reluctantly leads a desperate team of survivors in a search for hope. Humanity, on the brink of a crossroads: Maturity or Mayhem. ...and what about those pesky aliens anyway?