A race to avert a massive earthquake. The hero is Lewis Crane, a seismologist whose family perished in the one in Los Angles in 1994 and who devotes himself to forecasting them. He predicts a giant one for the Mississippi Valley, it never materializes and Crane is laughed at. Then he discovers a mistake in his calculations and realizes the earthquake is round the corner. But how to convince the country?

The Garden of Rama picks up the story of three astronauts trapped in the labyrinthine alien spaceship bound for deep space at the end of the previous book in the series, Rama II. The three trapped humans must use all their wits and resources to survive aboard the ship. There are other alien species aboard-some hostile, and some benevolent. But the three astronauts face the greatest danger from other humans-after a group of violent convicts is brought...