England, the end of the 19th century. A young gentleman, Graham, exhausted by insomnia, finally falls asleep—only for an ordinary dream to turn into lethargy and continue for more than two hundred years. Awakening in London of the 22nd century, he sees a world of astonishing yet unsettling technologies, where the gap between people has grown even wider.
Over the centuries, banking interest has made him—against his will—the main owner of enormous fortunes, in fact the planet’s supreme proprietor. Graham finds himself drawn into a hard confrontation: the ruling Council tries to hold on to hidden power, while the rebellious townspeople see the awakened Sleeper as a future leader and a chance for liberation. This novel is one of the early classic anti-utopias in the history of science fiction.