Annelisa Grace-Betterman writes detective novels to entertain the troops during WWII. When she is whisked to the future by the Conductor of a thought-powered time-traveling boxcar, she learns that she is destined to write novels, and a comic book series, that change the world.

Her family members and friends at Gracestone are stunned, but there are other matters to attend to. Her mother, Amandia, is in St. Augustine, trying to break away from the Atherlings, a race of people with no conscience into which she was born. With Annelisa and Amandia gone, her sister, Eleanor, runs the household with more skill than anyone imagined she possessed. Eleanor’s husband, Jean-Fils, still suffering from his brain injury, finds himself fighting in France, while Eleanor’s lover, Cy, goes on a wild ride to Dublin to retrieve his rival’s illegitimate daughter.

Meanwhile, Annelisa’s husband, Humboldt, is stuck in Los Alamos, working on the Manhattan Project, where his reputation has been tainted by his association with Soviet spy, Initra, his friend Oleg’s wife. As the intent behind the project becomes clearer to him, he worries about his Japanese relatives on his mother’s side, even as he longs for the war to end.

Carlissa’s crush, Nathan, enlists, and finds trouble and unexpected news off the coast of Hawaii. She diverts herself with Edgie, the president of the drama club. The other Gracestone teen, Niko, stands by crazy Sofia, his Russian refugee girlfriend.

Romnel thinks he has Sambria ready to go to the altar, and they receive a visit from Tilla, Annelisa’s intersex cousin, from Atherling headquarters in Charlestown, Nevis. When Tilla reveals the reason for her visit, they all realize just how important it is for Amandia to unBecome (transition from Atherling to “normal” human being).

No one remains untouched by the war or adventure, in the third installment of The Grace Family Chronicles, The Train of Thought.