Berkeley, 1973. Four university researchers make a startling discovery: if population and industrial growth continue unchecked, civilization could collapse within a century.

The finding sends them down very different paths. Idealistic couple Mildred and Eugene Dundee dedicate themselves to sounding the alarm. Economist Paul Qurillot turns crisis into opportunity. And enigmatic mathematician Johannes Gudsonn disappears.

Fifty years later, a journalist follows Gudsonn's trail, searching for answers about the prediction that changed so many lives.

Inspired by the landmark 1972 report The Limits to Growth, Quentin's novel is an intellectual thriller, a sharp satire of modernity, and the portrait of a generation that foresaw catastrophe—and failed to prevent it.