What can one young boy and a group of strangers do against a powerful man bent on weaponizing dreams?

Jamie McPherson and his dog, Shem, go on a quest which takes them from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Dartmouth College where a neurophysiologist has developed a dreaming computer named Ann. Along the way they get help from the Guardians of the Moon, creatures who carry our dreams to and from us, and some heroic people who've lost the ability to dream. But the NSA's Earl Pangiosi knows that dreaming is powerful and important, and will use all his power to stop Jamie from succeeding.

What does it mean to dream, to hope? To wake up each morning with the belief that today will be better than yesterday? And if we lose the ability to hope, to dream, to wish, to believe in better tomorrows? What happens when people don't want to dream yet can't wake up? And what if humans aren't the only ones who can dream?

Jamie and Shem discover where dreams are kept and who guards them, and why people are losing the ability to dream. Jamie is willing to help but to do so he must make what seems a boy's ultimate sacrifice: the loss of his best friend and his innocence.