In the very near future, a mysterious wind sweeps the earth, erasing the memory of every human on the planet. All but one--a young boy with an experimental computer implanted in his brain, assisted by the computer's storage, has retained his memories of the way the world was. Before passing on, he educates a young man he dubs Wataru. Left alone as the only educated being in a world populated by humans reduced to their animal instincts, Wataru takes it upon himself to travel across America in an effort to begin rebuilding the great civilization whose ruins still cover the land. He is joined in his journey by a mysterious woman, and they are pursued by an automated war machine left over from past times. They meet meet an interesting array of people and are involved in an unusual series of adventures, but even as he tries to recapture some of the past glory of human civilization, Wataru ponders the question raised by his traveling companion--is this civilization really worth saving?