For ten years, Paul has scrabbled for survival among the sand-shrouded ruins of the once-great city of Paris. The seas have dried up, deserts cover much of the Earth's surface, and humanity has been all but annihilated, as much by the drought as by the nuclear and biological conflicts following the great Breakdown. Desperate bands of humans still survive. Some scrape a living in the remains of shattered cities; others resort to murder and cannibalism...