A 10-year-old American boy named Jack, who loves airplanes and knows a great deal about them, finds himself in a world that has just emerged from World War II. Jack's favorite military plane is the Navy Corsair. Since the need for warplanes no longer existed, they were taken by flatbed railcars to a salvage depot called a boneyard where the planes were stacked one upon the other, resulting in a mountain of aluminum. Those aircrafts would eventually be recycled. A boneyard was conveniently located adjacent to an air base near Jack's home. During summer school vacation, Jack went to the boneyard daily and then sat under a cottonwood tree that stood outside a chain link fence which encircled the military base and the boneyard. While there, Jack drew pictures in a sketchbook of things he observed in the boneyard; he also wrote narratives about his visual and intuitive experiences. He recognized a similarity between the boneyard and humanity. Jack hoped a Corsair would someday be brought to the boneyard for him to study.

Meanwhile, a boy named Eddie, who was Jack's age, had recently moved into Jack's neighborhood. Eddie was a needy dullard who clung to Jack. Eddie possessed multiple character flaws. Jack believed Eddie exemplified the apparent nature of a humanity that had caused the boneyard to emerge and to trumpet a warning of a recurring future. Jack was very troubled by Eddie's intrusion, but he could not remove himself from that unfortunate situation. Jack possessed many abilities; one was an ability to express his thoughts and visual observations into his sketchpad. While at the boneyard, Jack encountered two mysterious military policemen who were perhaps more than what they appeared to be. The passage of time seemed to favor Jack in a most unusual manner.