A round black stone - the size of a full stop - comes from the depths of space, and blows the world to bits. There is nothing left, except a cloud of dust, a tin of dark plum jam and 44 Gallon Creek. A fragment of land clings to one bank of the creek however, a wasteland of prickly pears, ants and stones. Three children live there, now, in an old car, with a feral cat. But 44 Gallon Creek is drifting in towards the sun, and everything is getting much too hot.