Thulie Johnson was born different, but a strange medical event makes him more than different--another species, stronger, longer-lived... and lonely. People die very fast when you live 900 years. There are others like Thulie: one, three, maybe five, if he can find them and if they can live in peace. Thulie has human memories, too, if he can make peace with the past. It is a long journey--in time, in mind and in space.