Metamorphosis continues Kim Francisco's adventures on the path to adulthood in Alaska. The book picks up where Alibi Mike ends in the fall of 1973, when Kim and two friends decide to drive the Pan American Highway. Things go awry early on when there is a car accident. Kim's friends decide to hitchhike on, leaving the author healing from his injuries and waiting for car parts in Stewartwart, B.C. To stay warm and dry, he becomes a barfly. To pass the time, he works as a salvage logger. Finds his morality tested by the wife of a friend. Finally, he is rescued by a Canadian Mountie and his wife. The scene changes from the northwoods to Des Moines, IA. Where Kim meets his soulmate, Marsha. He replaces El Coyote, dead in Stewart, with another Toyota Land Cruiser that Marsha names Critter. Adding another Iowan headed to Alaska for college, they drove across the country during the Gas Crisis 1973. Arriving in California, he drops Marsha off at her brother's so she can return to Des Moines and finish he Dental Assistant Certificate. Picking up two friends who were returning to the University, they headed north up Highway 101. The gas crisis and snow blindness cause the quartet to suffer fear and cold. Marsha joins Kim in Fairbanks at Lathrop Hall, one of the University's dorms. Kim has to battle the U of A's administrativehierarchy when they try to blackmail him for his diploma. Leaving Marsha in Fairbanks, Kim returns to Emmonak to face more challenges as a seasonal employee. His transfer back to Fairbanks allows him to marry Marsha.
