Established and chronicled in the two previous books, Dayworld is now at a moment of terminal crisis. One man, William Duncan (aka Jeff Caird), holds the key to the chains that bind the world, and he is determined to loose them and bring down the whole civilization. For the population has steadily decreased but the figures have been kept secret so that the administrators can retain absolute power. Now Duncan, the daybreaker who lives seven days a week, with the help of his sometime lover, Panthea Snick, is determined to expose the plot and reveal the discovery of longer lifespan, awakening all the world at once. But he must run, hide, fight, kill to stay free long enough to do it.