Ted Cousin is brutally bullied beyond reason at school and by his older brother, ignored and hounded by an uncaring society.

Denver, Colorado, the United States of America and the entire world in the late sixties is a place and time of hope, of potentially unfettered freedom and upheaval.

Ted thinks he can see all that or at least glimpse it, catch it on the edge of the eye, But most of the time it eludes him. He imagines he can see a better future, for himself, for his sister Linda and the world.

But most of the time it's nothing but mud.

He is different, somehow. It isn't just his despair, the vast desolation surrounding him speaking, he knows that, or desperately hopes he does, in the many lonely years ahead. There is something there, on the edge of the eye, something he can't quite grasp, a spark, one that can change everything.

The fire stirs within, both burning and warming him. The shadow is both a source of comfort and fear. He reaches for it, for everything that might not be there. In one brutal turn of events he gets his answers, or at least their modest beginnings. The spark is struck, and the violent storm explodes, and terror rises with it, making everything previously look like a pale ghost in comparison.

The world strikes Ted Cousin with everything it's got, and he strikes back with equal determination, and lo and behold: it's an even match...