Adam Stone is chosen by a highly developed alien civilization to be their ambassador to earth. Their mission is to re-configure the human brain so that humans will be fit to join the cosmic community of minds. Unfortunately they reckon without human irrationality, and embark on a project to understand the human mind by analysing Russian jokes. In the middle of this comes another kind of madness: Adam's infatuation with Elaine, the wife of an old university friend. Adam's mind becomes more and more unstable as he gradually sees everything he took for granted being swept away beneath his feet.