In the near future humanity has tired of its miserable life so much that a fanatical government decides to give earth back to nature. While all around Dominick Priest humanity is either commiting suicide or being killed by fanatics, the hero struggles overland toward his home village, not really knowing what awaits him there. On the way there, including during the crossing of the name-giving storm-tossed suspension bridge, he slowly goes mad and becomes the prophet of a new religion that embraces life.