After a childhood of religious certitude and bliss within the Judeo-Christian tradition, Peter Patkutka wavers during his adult life between religious belief and unbelief. In times of religious belief, he is undercut by Spinoza, the seventeenth-century philosopher, whose philosophy gave a rational basis to atheism, and helped to bring to an end the theocracy of the Middle Ages; in times of unbelief, he is haunted by an inclination - seemingly congenital - to believe, and by a hunch - seemingly intuitive - that there may be something more than the material universe. His life takes on overtones of an "everyman" character. The subject matter of religious belief and unbelief is explored through various literary genres, narrative styles, and voices.