After returning from an expedition to the Black Rock Desert, Jessup, the world's leading expert in extinct toads, shares the story of his meeting a Czech anatomist living with a lost tribe of hippies. The anatomist has discovered a unique and very powerful psychoactive substance derived from a rare toad and a specific dung beetle fungus. Jessup returns to campus and replicates the substance, which he names Obliterene. He summons his tight-knit group of academics, all of whom studied together at Bard, to attend a mysterious, Obliterene-fueled experience, that he believes will happen during a total solar eclipse on the winter solstice. The five uber-academics revel in one-upping one another about their accomplishments, and lament the loss of the sixth member of their group.