Throughout Cornell's youth, his dad was a UFO hunter, driving him down the backroads of small-town America examining black glass circles in farm fields and other UFO evidence. Cornell kept hoping they'd find his mom who, Dad had told him, was taken by aliens. Cornell is recruited by a mysterious government agency which reveals that Earth has contacted alien worlds through the Portal, a device which 'translates' humans who pass through into indigenous life forms of that world. But Cornell's biggest trials come when he returns to Earth to face secrets that are more shattering than any of his alien encounters.