Saint Birdie Twine has seen the rainbow in her dreams. She has assured the residents of Conniption City that the worst of the flood is over and the water level is receding. Only the most sacrilegious among them would notice that it continues to rise or imagine that their neighbors floating downstream are anything but blissfully asleep. Besides, they have more urgent matters to attend to:

· Mayor Mitby Sather would like to run for higher office—governor or president or something.

· Bishop Obediah Twine aspires to the Papacy. He’s not Catholic though, so he’ll have to perform a miracle or something to make God really sit up and take notice.

· Miss Sympathy Jo Jacobson, nearly forty, is eager to share her maidenhood with somebody—preferably not Mitby Sather.

Meanwhile the Nimi i puu up in the hills wait patiently for the spirit of The Lake That No Longer Remembers Its Name to rid the valley of demons