Bob Arctor is a narcotics agent living as a member of a household full of drug users. His is a life of secrecy; he does not reveal his true identity to his housemates, nor does he reveal who he is to the police. He becomes addicted himself, to a substance known as Substance D (its street nickname is "slow death".)It is a psychoactive drug and is extremely powerful In order to get close to those near the top of the supply chain, Bob befriends a low level dealer called Donna, but his life becomes even more complex when he genuinely falls in love with her.
Bob goes by the name Fred whilst he is undercover. When he is pulled in by his superiors for routine testing, they discover that he is almost useless as an agent because his heavy use of Substance D has caused his brain to start firing in different directions at the same time. When he sees himself on camera he doesn't recognize the person on the screen. Although he keeps his identity hidden from the police who have brought him in with the rest of his household, they suspect that he might be Bob Arctor, but when they suggest this to him he rebuffs the suggestion as impossible.
Ironically, it is Donna, his drug dealer girlfriend, who tries to help him beat his addiction. She takes him New Path, a rehabilitation facility and clinic. Bob begins to go through Substance D withdrawal which has some awful side effects. Donna also becomes Bob's handler. Unbeknownst to him, she is an undercover narcotics agent too. Her job is to get inside New Path to see who is funding it. She has selected Bob as her man on the inside, although she hasn't told him this. He believes she is acting as his concerned girlfriend. New Path is a controversial place. As part of the process of breaking down each addict, new names are given out (Bob becomes "Bruce" for the duration of his stay) and group psychology sessions are brutally cruel.
A combination of prolonged drug use and harsh psychological techniques experienced at the clinic have rendered Bob a shadow of his former self. His narcotics agent colleagues see a broken shell of a man when they look at him, but it is Bruce who unwittingly discovers the source of the funding at New Path; whilst he is working outside at New Path's farming commune he spots a pretty row of blue flowers amongst the corn; further glances reveal row upon row of them, and Bob realizes that they are a species called Mors Ontologica, and that they are the plant derivative of Substance D. He picks some, and hides them in his shoes. They will make wonderful Thanksgiving gifts for his friends - undercover agents also posing as rehabilitating drug users at New Path.
