Jack Smith is forty-five years old. He has been that age from the moment he took breath in the war-torn London of 1916, and will be until to the end of his existence. He is a near-immortal observer of humankind, an instrument of its creators who are considering the future of their troublesome handiwork. Jack lives among us, experiencing human joy and heartbreak through a century of tumult, war, disaster, tragedy and pain. And now, just as he has once more found love, the creators want him back and have sent their Hound to run him down. Jack is in a race against time to perform a final act of compassion for the woman he loves before he is torn away from the world he has come to call home.