Slade Steadman is the author of a world-famous travel book, but has struggled to match its success for the past thirty years. A journey downriver in a remote eastern province of Ecuador gives him the experience he has been seeking - and a miracle drug, which induces temporary blindness. On his return to the USA, Steadman is rejuvenated - able not only to write and remember, but granted an almost uncanny prescience, bordering on second sight...