X-Files strangeness and race-against-time action come together in this eccentric, gripping science adventure based on the Philadelphia Experiment, a real-life WWII attempt to render warships invisible. Fifty years after the war, neuropsychologist Dr. Wes Martin and co-worker Elizabeth Foxworth begin to investigate several people of various ages who are all dreaming the same dream - that they are wandering through an empty ship in the desert, a vessel whose passageways and rooms keep shifting like a living maze.

When Martin links Elizabeth's mind with that dream world, Elizabeth discovers herself wandering a ship that seems much too real to be a fantasy. That's because it is real - it's called the Norfolk, and for more than 50 years it has been trapped in its own little pocket universe. The experiment not only fused some of the Norfolk's crew with its metal superstructure, it gave the surviving sailors psychic powers. These so-called Specials are still ensnared on the ship, which is monitored by the Office of Special Projects.

When the Nimitz, a modern-day aircraft carrier, disappears just like the Norfolk did, Special Projects leaders take action. They plan to insert a team of agents led by stone killer Nathan Jett into the pocket universe to destroy the shipboard generators that have been keeping the Norfolk separate from the real world. With just enough science to make the weirdness believable and well-rendered subplots, notably a surprisingly moving friendship between killer Jett and the supposedly expendable Ralph, David crafts a swift ride of shipboard battles, telekinetic showdowns and potential nuclear catastrophe.