End of the World? The Second Coming? Nobody in Toledo or the rest of the world is quite sure. Strange patterns appear across the city that can only be seen from high above. Crosses lift from steeples and zoom through the clouds. A truck driver reports seeing a fifty-foot angel hover over a Waffle House near Interstate 75. Rumors are rampant, citizens are fleeing. Meanwhile, Malcolm, a cigar-chomping three-foot "messenger" from god-knows-where urges Shirley and boyfriend Nathan to have a baby. But not just any baby. This one will introduce something Malcolm likes to call the New Dawn, a bright new world with no problems. But there is a big problem for now—young Shirley is spokesperson for Abstinence Before Marriage and daughter of the conservative mayor who is in a tight race for re-election. And Nathan wants no part of the gig, hoping instead to strike it rich with one of his godawful screenplays. But he may not have a choice. After all, they are the Chosen Ones.