Ted tells stories. Perched high on a cloud, he peers down at the Earth and the mortals who inhabit it, listening to their memories. Lola, once a famous Hollywood bombshell, now a god, listens to his stories. Ted's words capture her heart, just as she captured the hearts of her fans. Down below, three families experience joy, tragedy, hope, and loss. Milton and Theresa are activists, conservationists, parents, lovers, fighters. Cochan is a self-styled ecological leader, haunted by sadness and fear. And Carney is a disaster-recovery specialist who can quench an oil-platform fire but finds love hard to hold on to. Through their attractions and battles their futures become bound, as Cochan's vision for a new utopia, a massive construction project, threaten to rupture everything. This is a story about stories--those we tell others, and those that fill us up. It is also about the stories we tell ourselves and the ways they make us who we are--admired artists, depised monsters, adored immortals.-- From cover.