The terrorists are a group of aging hippies living in a commune on government ground. Their way of life is threatened when the governor of California wants to take away their land to build a dam for a nuclear power plant. Their motive is survival because none of the commune members can survive long outside of the commune. The commune is so far removed from society that its members should not, in all practicality, make good terrorists. But their leader, known to us as Priest, proves to be resourceful, manipulative and a diamond in the rough.
Priest undergoes the most significant character development.
Before the book is half over, you will hate the bastard, but a part of you may also wish that he succeeds because you may sympathize with his struggle against the government. The wife of a famed seismologist who recently joins the commune proves to be the key to the whole plot. Without her, Priest would not get the idea of how to save his commune and without her he would not have the means to carry out the idea. Priest s idea is to save his commune with terrorism, to threaten to cause earthquakes with a stolen seismic vibrator and to demand that all construction on all nuclear power plants be halted so that his way of life can be saved. Priest must cause two earthquakes before the governor s office takes his threat seriously.