the book follows the remillard family of new hampshire from the years immediately after world war ii through an increasingly turbulent world, in which various "metapsychic" humans manoeuvre in secret to direct the destiny of the human race. the remillards play a central role in this story, though the narrator, rogatien "uncle rogi" remillard, is often an alienated observer rather than a central participant. at the same time, the earth is under surveillance by representatives of a galactic culture (the "galactic milieu" of the series title), who monitor the human race's fitness for admission into the wider galactic community. interwoven with this narrative are glimpses of the time after the main action of the series, drawing together threads from it and the pliocene exile series.