In a world where time flows in reverse, the resurrection of a prominent black leader threatens to ignite racial violence, forcing a desperate race against the clock to prevent historical catastrophe. The protagonist must navigate a society where the dead emerge from graves to grow younger, eventually returning to the womb. This reality is governed by the Library, an organization tasked with the systematic erasure of written records for events that have effectively un-happened. The narrative employs a third-person perspective to explore the logistical and existential chaos of a world moving backward, where the primary conflict centers on the political fallout of a man returning to life in a society that fears his influence.

This work is frequently analyzed for its early exploration of reverse-time mechanics, predating similar literary experiments by decades. The narrative is noted for its characteristic Dickian focus on the instability of reality and the oppressive nature of bureaucratic control. Readers often highlight the unsettling imagery of the 'un-birth' process as a central element that defines the novel's unique atmosphere. The text is regarded as a significant, if sometimes overlooked, entry in the author's bibliography that effectively blends social satire with high-concept science fiction.