In the novel, the Soviet Union dammed the Bering Strait in the 1990s, thus changing global weather patterns by reversing the normally clockwise currents in the Pacific Ocean. Although the Russians were able to grow grain as far north as the Arctic Circle, a massive drought began east of the Rocky Mountains. West of the Rockies, the opposite problem was true. Further, much of coastal Asia froze over. The expedition eventually encounters survivors from a previous expedition. One of these survivors calls himself President Charles Manson, but none of the Apollo's crew understood the historical reference.