John Barth

After a fluke tornado destroys George I. Newett's neighborhood, a series of strange coincidences relating to the stock market crash of 1929 occur, causing him to experience five serial visions corresponding to pivotal events in his life.

After a catatonic episode on a railway station platform, Jacob Horner is taken to 'The Farm,' a bizarre insane asylum run by Doctor D. After being 'cured', Jacob takes a job as an English lecturer at a nearby college and begins a disastrous affair with the wife of a colleague.