As the neglected son of a real-life mad scientist, Peter Bishop had a less than idyllic childhood. After Walter Bishop's institutionalization, Peter set out to make himself as different from his father as he could. Peter is a college drop-out who passed for several months as a chemistry professor... an intuitive mathematician who has nevertheless lost his shirt and more in the casinos of Europe and America... a jack-of-all-trades who has held every imaginable job from bouncer to biochemical engineer.

Peter's discontent has led him around the world, unwilling to stay anywhere for long. But his employment as a civilian consultant for the FBI, in order to supervise his mentally fractured father, could force him to put down reluctant roots. Against his better judgment, Peter now finds himself following in his father's dangerous footsteps - while assisting a government agency that holds a file containing information about his own possible criminal activity.