Space travellers return to their planet after a long absence and find everyone gone. The intriguing aspect is the amount of clothing lying everywhere, as if people undressed before vanishing. The travellers head for Earth and find the same happened there.

"A veteran of The Forever War, William Mandella has since settled on a planet set aside for his kind. Married with two children, he makes his living on the snow-covered world ice fishing and teaching physics. But Mandella, his family, and his way of life have become obsolete. The denizens of Earth have evolved into a group consciousness known simply as Man, and they have taken control of Mandella's new home.

Humans are considered dangerous because of their independent natures, though they are kept safe for the sake of their diverse gene pool.".

"That's now how Mandella and his fellow soldiers want to exist. In a desperate gamble, he rallies the humans to hijack the spaceship Time Warp and take to the stars to begin humanity anew. Then something goes wrong. The crew is forced to abandon ship and return home in suspended animation twenty-five years later. But the planet has aged centuries during their interstellar voyage - and the crew wonders what new world awaits them upon arrival..."--BOOK JACKET.