The unearthing of a paltry pension for a war veteran sends two rival congresspeople on a quest either to rescue a forgtten and neglected hero from penury or to expose a ruthless and criminal enterprise defrauding the US governmet. What they find is Joyleg, a veteran of an altogether older war than expected. Joylegs archaic speech and historical references fill pages with delightful puncturing of cherished myths, but arguably his accidentally resolving the nuclear standoff between the US and the USSR has aged out in a way the 18th century stuff hasn't, and it's a pity they didn't go all-in on Joyleg's story a la Little Big Man or some other weighty literary tome, rather than focusing on the clash with (then modern) modernity.