Cayce Pollard is a self employed cool hunter. She makes her living by contracting out her unique ability to determine ahead of time which logos, products and advertising campaigns will work and which won't. Hubertus Bigend runs a multinational company called Blue Ant and hires Cayce's services, requiring her to go to London - a place she refers to as mirror world. This contract will keep her from her New York apartment for some time since it will lead to an investigation of an entirely different nature. Bigend wants Cayce to find the author and creator of the 'footage' that is rapidly gaining a cult like following on line. With 135 postings so far, the footage is unique, insightful and provocative. None of the segments have audio, and yet each seems to contain a lifetime of emotion, desire, and hope. There are no discernible features, landmarks or trademarks that can be seen in any of them, and they are as likely to have been taken in 1914 as in 1980.

Cayce has been following the footage with a dedication that qualifies her as a 'footagehead' for some time. Together with a group of mostly like minded people, she posts her observations and speculations on a site called Fetish Footage Forum where she is a well known and regular contributor. She is on the site so often that other regular contributors like Parkaboy, Mama Anarchia, and Musashi are as comfortable as family are to some. Cayce enjoys her time logged into that site as much as she would if she gathered the group into her living room. Of all of the contributors, Cayce has formed a friendship of sorts with Parkaboy, trusting him more than she does some of the people in her life. When she begins to hunt down the author of the footage, it is Parkaboy to whom she turns for help and advice. Like her, he is a purist, seeking only to find the source of the footage for the same reasons as an explorer might seek the headwaters of the Nile River. Parkaboy and Musashi create a character they name Keiko to lure information from the Osaka version of F:F:F. They attract the attention of a fellow footagehead in Japan named Taki who mentions the existence of watermarks. Further investigation and rather suggestive innuendo from the imaginary Keiko nets them a map of the 135 segments and their corresponding watermark numbers. It is an exciting leap forward in their search. Cayce manages to get an email address for the footage creator and sends a message. The response sets off a series of dramatic events that almost costs Cayce her life as she pursues the author of this imaginative work.

Before the whole truth is revealed, Cayce is mugged in Japan, and drugged in Russia. She persists, meeting those responsible for the magical footage they have long enjoyed but will she reveal their identity to Bigend? A dramatic finish includes revelations about Cayce's own father who disappeared when the World Trade Center bombing occurred. Rescued by Parkaboy, she is given a new lease on life.