20--, after the Destruction, ends the civilized world of machines, luxuries and pleasures, and among rigid, rural communities the past- and a surviving city- Bartorstown- are forbidden areas of inquiry. Len Colter, a young boy, hoping to find something more- growth, progress, freedom, runs away and finally reaches Bartorstown- which proves to be not a city but only an underground atomic arsenal. Nagged by conscience and disillusioned, he runs away again- this time to realize that it is better to ""chain the devil up"" than keep the ""whole land tied down"".... The avant garde- with thoughtful implications contemporary in their origins, ideas talk louder than actions here.