Twenty-something Ron Patterson ekes out a living as a low-wage migrant worker in the unidentified country where he has fled to escape the violence of an imploding America. Haunted by memories of his past and consumed by shame and grief at his nation's downfall, Ron drifts on the margins of society in his host country—until he meets beguiling Marlise, a fellow refugee who is strangely reminiscent of a former high school classmate.

Just as he is beginning to feel rooted in his new home, anti-immigrant fervor leads to a government crackdown, and Ron's incipient romance with Marlise is cut short when he is forced to flee again, bouncing from country to country in search of a new safe haven, "each move a last-minute escape from a looming migrant center or prison."

Years later, Ron has arrived in one of the few remaining countries that will let Americans into its borders. Finding ...