Working 5 miles inside a Los Angeles water tunnel in 1971, Willie Carter was one of 17 men killed in a methane explosion in what became known as the Sylmar Tunnel disaster. Tunnel Visions, a work of "faction," blends fact and fiction, weaving together the historical facts of the Sylmar disaster, the current struggle for control over California's diminishing water supply, and a fictional plot to attack Los Angeles' water system. Nick Carter, Willie Carter's son, is a fire-fighter trained in tunnel rescue operations. His fiancée, Cindi, is an ATF Special Agent. On a Sunday in 2014, they are swept up in a massive Homeland Security response to a terror alert in Los Angeles. At the end of Tunnel Visions, when Nick makes a desperate entry into a gas-filled Sylmar Tunnel access shaft in an attempt to save Cindi and prevent an explosion, his past and present are brought together in an unexpected way.