Robert Stark, in his oval office, planning campaign events for reelection, discusses his memoirs and interactions with twelve opaque individuals who suddenly disappear. Lisa Funk, recording the conversations, expresses concerns to the chief of staff. Hoping for redemption, Stark, remorseful, realizes his understanding of life events is not real, and delving into prior experiences and traumas in his life, he comes to see the world as it is, not as he imagined.

Stark is a complex, driven, God-fearing individual, balancing a thirst for power and prestige with deeply held religious beliefs. The group working with Stark is unable to grasp how he knows information about the shadowy individuals until the existence of the twelve is offered from a vastly different orientation. Recounted from a point of view of the missing, the story has disconcerting characters and startling scenes and situations. The views could be considered controversial by those not open to consider ideas disparate from their own.

Unlived Lives offers an unfamiliar paradigm and perspective often overlooked but very timely.