John Deacon, a failed priest, is rescued in the middle of his suicide attempt by an alert stranger. However, the two cannot escape the metro bus that kills them seconds after the rescue. As the disembodied John lingers between life and Hell, Penume the Watcher offers him a deal: write the story of the Fallen and he can bring him back to life, under one condition, he takes the body of the young man that saved him.
Now, as the reborn Gideon Serrano navigates the global success of the Watcher's best selling novel and the charity foundation he's setup, chaos emerges. Modern miracles, resurrections, and dark shadow creatures become a part of reality, sending the world to doubt it's beliefs, and morality itself. Among the unraveling dogma, Gideon falls in love with Lillian D'Santos, New York's leading neurologist, causing a rift to open between the skilled writers stories and the next step in Penume's plans.
As the years pass, Lillian insists Gideon undergo medical evaluation due to his deteriorating mental state. When the results of his neurological evaluation force him to question his own reality and the legitimacy of the deal that brought him back from the dead, a new dilemma arrives in a very public legal battle involving multiple murders and his entire body of literary work.
Penume arrives to offer a solution to Gideon's dilemma: the Watcher will reveal the entirety of his ploy at the expense of everything Gideon has come to hold dear. The very truth that can set Gideon free, may be the oldest lie in all of the universe. Left to decipher fact from fiction, the world's most renowned storyteller is given the responsibility of saving the world despite already having lost his soul.