When his wife takes a strange new narcotic and then maliciously slips some into his drink, the main character finds himself slipping back and forth through time. Against the backdrop of an arbitrary war being waged between planets really for government control of the domestic population (a typically Dickian stand-in for the Cold War), the main character—while unable to control his place in time—tries to maintain the balance of power by keeping Earth's eccentric and ailing leader in good health, or at least the appearance of it. Not one of Dick's greater novels, but still one which touches freshly on several of his recurring themes. The plot element of Earth's odd leader—whose illusions allow life to go on, even as they betray the true nature of reality—is classic Dick; so is the disturbing relationship between the submissive main character and his destructive, manipulative wife.