Vanishing Point is the story of two strangers and their attempts to cope with the reality of their lives, one of privilege and good fortune told in the linear prose appropriate to the tale of a man of science, the other of the harshest brutality presented in a rhythmic near poetry suited to the emotions of basic human survival. The first is the story of an American doctor who through little effort on his part falls into a life of good fortune through his marriage to a beautiful heiress which he jeopardizes via adulterous affairs and a brief entry in the sordid world of politics. Only after losing it all does he set out to find some meaning in his life.The other tale is the story of an African man who as a baby is mutilated and left for dead in an inter ethnic war and the miracle that keeps him alive and makes him a feared pariah in his own country as he searches for a place in his world. The two disparate stories come together by way of a military strong man with CIA ties who captures both men and finds that ridding himself of either is more difficult than he thought.