The needle of the story is actuall a gateway to another...uh..world. Actually, nobody knows where it leads, only that it's other side doesn't exist in our own world, and that only living matter can traverse it. When the completed needle is saboutaged by right-wing fundamentalists, the doorway expands to swallow up an entire city block. A small town of (now naked, and not just of clothing) normal people, men, women and children find themselves alone and someplace other than Maple Street, USA. Not knowing if they are on Earth of a different time, or have been catapulted to another universe entirely, they band together to create a semblance of civilization with the intent of building a crude version of the needle, one that can send them home.

This was one of my favorite novels, but I can't hide its faults. A large part of the book isn't concerned with the sci-fi aspect of the plot as it is with the efforts of the displaced to re-learn metallurgy, chemistry and stellar navigation. The eligious fundamentalists come off as a bunch of rubes, but the ending is uplifting for all and redeems the story.