Never-wed, poor, rough around the edges Apple Annie has always written to her daughter, Louise, in Spain that she is married and a member of New York's high society. Upon receiving unexpected word from Louise (who hasn't seen Annie since infancy) that she is en route to America with her new fiancé and his father, a count, so the three of them can meet her, Annie panics, despairing that her beloved daughter will be destroyed by the deception.

Nico's hundrum daily existence simply cannot compete with the fantasy life he leads the world's most popular MMORPG METANOIA, as the swashbuckling vagabond Zero, together with his companions: the spiritist Mang Ernie, renegade chi-master K'mao, apprentice weapon-smith Sumpak, folk hero Ahdonis and the beast master Cassandra, they explore Metanoia's vast virtual landscape in search of untold on-line fortune and glory! As the malevolent force surfaces and threatens to destroy everything they hold precious, the fate of two worlds rests upon the shoulder of one very unlikely champion. One who must first find way to burst out of his shell and discover the true hero within-before it's too late!

In a small dusty town, the local pool shark is challenged by a mysterious lonesome hustler