College student Roland Steward, teenager Delaney Jefferson, and bankrupt farmer Ron Berch find themselves separately drawn into a wilderness world where they are immediately pursued by hideous, murderous thugs. In their desperate attempts to escape, they discover they have arrived in a world with 5 separate realms of reality, each with its own peculiar laws of nature. The First is an oppressively gray and gloomy realm in which the inhabitants display a dullness of mind that mirrors their surroundings. The Second corresponds to the reality that the three came from. The Third is an intensified world of exceptional powers. The Fourth is a realm of great empires, wizards, and extraordinary beasts. The Fifth is a realm far beyond human understanding, inhabited by immortal spirits with unspeakable powers. Realm borders are tricky places to be because no one can retain powers greater than those that exist in the realm they currently occupy. Aided by two mysterious wanderers, Roland, Delaney, and Ron race through the Second Realm into the mountains of the Third where the manhunt for them intensifies. Each harrowing escape provides clues as to who is pursuing them and why. Finally they deduce that someone is attempting the unthinkable act of shattering the realm boundaries and considers these interrealm travelers to be the chief obstacle standing in their way.