A novel that exposed the new and upcoming culture of 1920's Southern California, namely Hollywood. Sinclair does this by using Jesus, or Carpenter as Sinclair calls him, as a literary figure. The story takes place in the fictional locale Western City. It begins with a man named Billy who is attacked by a mob outside a theater after watching a German film. Billy then stumbles into a church and is visited by Carpenter, that is Jesus, who walks out of a stained glass window. Carpenter is shocked and appalled by upper-class culture. The story then roughly follows the biblical account of the Ministry of Jesus.