For 80 million years, the Tourists have taken Snapshots of Earth, creating living replicas of continents. Life in the Snapshots quickly diverges from the real world, creating a universe where humans and animals from Earth's history fly between Snapshots, exploring, fighting, and sometimes meeting themselves.

A fly-by-night petting zoo lands in Madagascar-24M, the Snapshot of Madagascar the Tourists made 24 million years ago, and promptly finds itself slapped in quarantine. After all, exotic animals from off-Snapshot are a risk, for people, local wildlife, and the environment.

Scott Hardy's title may be Assistant Veterinary Engineer, but his actual job is shoveling crap out of cages and protecting the "talent" - the nubile youths hired to run the petting zoo.

That doesn't include protecting the zoo's star performer, Athena Anders, Hardy's redheaded, volatile, dish-hurling, on-again-off-again girlfriend. Not because Athena isn't talented, but because she does just fine taking care of herself. The one thing Athena really loves are the zoo's stars, a pair of talking dinosaurs.

Then the dinosaurs go missing. And it's mating season.

The only thing worse than the havoc a pair of breeding dinosaurs can create on an unprotected, unsuspecting world? The wrath of Athena when she finds out who's responsible.