In 2052, Stevie (Cherokee), a recent high school graduate and aspiring photographer in Texas working at a modern art museum, is looking forward to starting college at UT Austin. Stevie adores her much younger brother Levi (Cherokee/Black), and her two best friends, Loren and Jess. And she appreciates her mom and stepdad, even if they are overprotective. Adam is a new artist intern at the museum especially interested in the museum’s piece Ladder for Booker T. Washington by Martin Puryear. With romantic tension between them building, Stevie is more than a little angry when he bails on attending a special museum event. When Adam finally explains, she doesn’t want to believe his story: He claims he’s come from 200 years in the future to steal The Ladder, part of a humanitarian mission to save meaningful art about human history and experience from the global disaster that’s about to strike—a three-month pandemic, continued climate crisis, and the unraveling of society. Then Levi is diagnosed with a rare cancer—one that will likely kill him if Adam’s story is true. But if Adam’s story is true, can the future save her little brother? This deliciously head-spinning time travel story offers hope in Adam’s assurance that the unraveling of society as Stevie knows it provides the foundation for building a more just and compassionate world.