Sue Doerrer, a poet and eventual lyricist, leaves Seattle in 1968 and works as an admissions secretary in a county hospital in upstate New York. There, with her ex-lover, Dan Tatascore, a conscientious objector, she works to fight the invasion of privacy and the cover-up of negligence within the hospital. Later, after Dan is chased by the police for the destruction of documents, the two of them become embroiled in a mayoral campaign where Sue's uncle Carl represents human rights and her cousin Bill represents their repression.

In the second part, set in 2001, Dan is now a nurse practitioner psychiatrist in Oregon and a veteran of the Stonewall Riots. He challenges the specter of the despotic Patriot Act while deepening his relationship with his new partner, Eric. He fights for the rights of resident aliens and eventually becomes a whistleblower on the rigging of the past presidential election through a reacquaintance with the mysterious Roy Covington, whose documents he destroyed back in upstate New York.

Dan and Sue meet up again in Eugene, and Dan learns of the extraordinary ongoing connection between her and his partner, Eric.