Dominant world powers have collapsed along with their economies. "True" Russia is establishing itself as the ruler of nations and Captain Aleksandr Iosifovich Brukov is on a mission is to earn the trust of the Chaser Two population. When his helicopter is shot down in "The Hamp" he soon discovers that Chasers are not a homogenous group. A local resurgent religious faction, based on the ancient teachings of Jonathan Edwards, is battling to dominate the local population of Hamp farmers while the backward and uneducated people who live in primitive camps in the surrounding hills of Western Massachusetts stay clear of the Hamp and want nothing more than to be left alone. But it is the "Jonnies" faction that shot down Captain Brukov's helicopter and if Brukov is to accomplish his mission of opening the area to Russian traffic he must gain the confidence and assistance of the hilltown Chasers to subdue the Jonnies. The political and social mores that play out among these disparate peoples combine to make Chasers a beguiling, gripping adventure. Written in 1982, and set in an unspecified future, this previously unpublished novel seems surprisingly prescient today.