Edmund James Beasley II is a writer and a new believer who hasn't yet come to the realization he needs God's help. After an incident in college, Edmund develops a phobia about showing his writing to the world and finds employment anywhere he can just to avoid doing so. Still stuck on an old love, he discovers he's falling for Eleanor Collins, a woman he meets in the most unexpected of places after she contracts a mysterious virus that leaves people looking dead when they really are not. Add to the mix a conspiracy theory addicted roommate by the name of Dale who believes the earth is flat and claims to know the real reason why the Mexican-U.S. border wall has yet to be completed, and Edmund's life just got a whole lot more complicated. This becomes particularly true when Dale discovers a 1800s manuscript while vacuuming and finds it contains plans for a time machine--well sort of anyway. The manuscript belongs to the "Rascal Brigade of the High Sciences" an assembly of prominent scientists and engineers. Since the late 1800s, the Rascal Brigade has been having fun with pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, and they inspire Edmund to write a novel. But Edmund may get more than inspiration, for the group, coupled with the aftermath of the virus, sets Edmund off on an unexpected journey to catch a killer, for Eleanor's sake, and to find that he may need God's help after all.