It is early 1997. In a Dallas church, the Reverend Ivan Stang exhorts his congregation to abandon America and its wicked ways. He tells them that paradise will be theirs if they follow him and J.R. "Bob" Dobbs to a settlement in Dobbstown, Antarctica -- their "salvation from the fall of Babylon," as Stang preaches. Free from enemies! His flock shouts their endorsement.

Before the cheers die down, disturbed relatives of certain sect members are in the office of Congressman Harrison Ford, asking his help. He agrees to keep tabs on Stang and his followers.

Now it is 1998. Dobbstown is in operation. Its members, strangely robotic, labor out on the ice, living on rations so poor that camp doctor Philo Drummond is ordered by Dobbs to to spike the food with stimulants. Though the members have turned all their money over to Stang, none realize it is being hoarded to finance a mass migration to the red planet, Mars. Reverend Stang enforces his total command through mandatory tape recorders worn around the necks of the workers... and by armed guards. He reveals his complete plans only to his mistress, Reverend Sterno, stationed in nearby Shackleton.

As camp discipline becomes more severe -- with children tortured into wearing silly hats, and lovers forced into humiliating public celibacy -- some members try to escape. The outside world becomes alarmed at the reports filtering out. Stang, convinced he is a target of "Conspiracy" retaliation, orders his lawyers to "protect Dobbstown from prying assholes."

In desperation, he orders his people to pose for 'happy pictures' and rehearse their 'Night Of Slack' mass suicide, a "pure artistic moment of total self-expression" in defiance of the "outside fools" who are determined to destroy them.

However, nothing can deter Congressman Ford from coming to investigate. There have been too many comic books, too much bad publicity, and now a formal complaint from one of Stang's old joke writers. To clear the issue -- and to obtain evidence for an inquiry -- Ford, his assistant Jim Jones, and a press corps leave for Antarctica.

Disregarding the warnings of fellow officials, Ford and crew head for Dobbstown, where Stang, on the advice of his lawyers, lets them enter. The next day, however, some members who want to leave slip a note to a reporter. When Stang is confronted with the note, he is forced to let all who want to go board the waiting snowmobiles. The group heads for Byrd Airfield.

Hidden among them is another "Bob" fanatic, Paul Mavrides, who opens fire on Ford and Jones as they board the first of two helicopters. At this signal, a truck full of armed "DobbsHeads" fire on the second helicopter, killing everyone "without a sense of humor." Watching from the sidelines -- but taking no action -- is a squad of U.S. Army soldiers.

When Stang hears of the killings, he summons his "Doktors" and orders them to prepare sinister vats of soft drinks. The zombie-like followers obey. In a dramatic final exhortation to his flock, Stang declares that "... the 'Bad Bob' is only minutes away . . . the time has come for 'Ultimate Slack' -- or you can kill me!" All must drink the "Sub-Punch." The lawyers flee into the frozen wasteland.

Suddenly, The Fightin' Jesus arrives in a gigantic flying saucer. All survivors hurry aboard, and leave for a new life on Mars.

The Antarctic sun rises on a day which will shock the world. As nuclear-tipped missles leave their silos to begin the Third World War, in Dobbstown there is left behind only a little Puzzling Evidence: a mutated baby, playfully blasting to bits all the ice-floes around him with the heat rays from his glowing, colorless eyes.

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