In a devastated Los Angeles of the near future most of the population have fled from THE FEAR, leaving the city inhabited by freaks and drop-outs, policed by the mysterious and powerful SCRAP organisation: characters such as the punkish Dortz and his enigmatic side-kick Anne Manx, the vicous, dumb Buddy - a boy who quite literally will blow your mind - and his sister, Rachel, reanimator of dead flesh.

Set in a future where the United States has largely broken down into reluctantly cooperating enclaves run by a wide variety of strongmen and warlords, with a veneer of government control that seems largely interested in controlling technology. Dr. Adder is an artist-surgeon, who modifies sexual organs of his patients to satisfy the weirdest of perversion; he is clearly depicted as a partly criminal, partly countercultural figure in a future Los Angeles.

Schuyler, a sprinter, one who outruns government particle beam satellites to deliver computer chips to the European black market, becomes a media celebrity and the icon of a new religious cult.