A public catastrophe forced brilliant and out-of-touch inventor Lazarus McFarren to hide away from a world that didn’t understand him. For the past twenty years Lazarus has been alone, caring for his ailing daughter Esther, by fashioning prototypes that provide her hope. Or sometimes just a smile. And a graveyard of failed attempts.

And now Lazarus is on the cusp of success with his greatest invention yet – a contraption that could help his daughter connect with the outside world for which she dreams and yearns. With money running out, Lazarus is forced to return to a reality that has long passed him by – a world that he no longer understands – in order to keep the last of his family together.

Racing the clock to meet the deadline for the National Invention Convention, Lazarus and Esther spring into a whirlwind that thrills Esther as much as it frightens and baffles her father. Their adventure explodes with life, color and the strangest of people.  From Lazarus’ German buddy Hahzee Schick, to loose-screw evil forces who seek to steal his machine and take over the world. Or some such nonsense.

This dizzying return to the contemporary world could be the last chance Lazarus has to succeed and reconnect with life, or it could take away what little he has left.