After escaping the alternate
Topeka and the wizard
Walter O'Dim and
weathering the starkblast, Roland's
ka-tet continue their travels. During this time,
Eddie Dean and
Jake Chambers are sent to New York, 1977, via a dream-state called todash. There, they encounter Calvin Tower, a bookstore owner who had previously given Jake a book that proved integral to the quest for the Dark Tower. Tower owns the vacant lot that houses a
rose that is the physical manifestation of the Dark Tower. Crime boss Enrico Balazar is attempting to coerce him into selling the lot to the mysterious Sombra Corporation. If this happens, the rose (and the Dark Tower) will be destroyed. Soon after, the ka-tet discover that they are being followed by citizens of the farming village of Calla Bryn Sturgis, as well as
Father Callahan. He and the townsfolk request the ka-tet's assistance in battling against the Wolves of Thunderclap, who come once a generation to take one child from each pair of the town's twins. (For some reason, nearly all children in the town are born as twins.) After a few months of being away, the children are then returned "roont" (ruined) – mentally handicapped and destined to grow to enormous size and die young. The Wolves are due to come in about a month's time, according to Andy, an amicable
humanoid robot that appeared in the Calla long ago. When asked about the Wolves, Andy refuses to divulge any information without a password. Jamie Jaffords, an elderly resident of the Calla, remembers the previous time the Wolves appeared and tells of how he and his friends confronted them decades earlier and killed one. Father Callahan also tells the gunslingers the story of how he left Maine following his battle with the vampire
Kurt Barlow. Since that encounter he has gained the ability to identify Type-3 vampires. He begins killing these minor vampires as he finds them; however, this makes him a wanted man amongst the "
low men". Forced to go into exile, Callahan eventually is lured into a trap and dies, allowing him to enter Mid-World in 1983, much as Jake did when previously killed. He appears at the Way Station, shortly after Roland and Jake meet for the first time, and meets Walter O'Dim, who gives him Black Thirteen, a magic ball. Walter transports Callahan to the mountains near Calla Bryn Sturgis, where the Manni people find him in a place called the Doorway Cave. Roland deduces that Black Thirteen induced the todash dreams that sent Eddie and Jake to New York and that it can allow them to travel between worlds. The ka-tet decides to use it to travel back to New York in 1977 and ensure that the rose is protected. Eddie and Roland venture to Doorway Cave. Using Black Thirteen, Roland opens a door for Eddie to travel to New York. Once there he fends off Balazar's thugs, threatening to kill them if they come back for Tower. He then tells Tower that Balazar will come back for him, and that he should flee and leave a message for the ka-tet so that they may find him again. Tower agrees to do so but, in exchange, he asks that he can hide his valuable books in Roland's world for safekeeping, where they are hidden in Doorway Cave. Callahan later travels to New York in order to determine Tower's new location. While planning the battle with the Wolves,
Roland and Jake notice bizarre changes in Susannah's behavior, which are linked to the time when
she coupled with the demon in the stone circle. Susannah turns out to have been hiding the fact that she was impregnated by the demon. Susannah later reveals to the ka-tet that she herself has come to grips with it, and knowledge of a second personality living in her named Mia "daughter of none" is shared. Andy turns out to be an emissary for the Wolves. The father of Jake's new friend Benny Slightman has betrayed the Calla by feeding Andy information in exchange for sparing Benny from going to Thunderclap. Jake follows the two conspirators to "The Dogan", a military outpost between the Calla and Thunderclap. There, he discovers a surveillance system that monitors the entire Calla, and overhears Andy and Slightman communicating with someone named
Finli o'Tego. Jake tells Roland, who shows mercy by not killing Slightman, instead leaving him alive for his son and Jake's sake. Eddie also blinds Andy and decommissions him for his part in the Wolves' attack. On the day of the Wolves' arrival, Roland reveals what he has gleaned from their investigation to his attack team: the Wolves are not men, but robots, much like Andy himself. The Wolves attack, using weapons resembling
snitches and
lightsabers, and have
Doctor Doom-like visages. The gunslingers hide the children in a rice patch and lay a false trail to lure the Wolves in, then ambush them with the help of
plate-throwing women in the Calla. All of the Wolves are killed, while the defenders suffer only two deaths – a thrower and Benny, the latter of which greatly dismays Jake. After the battle, Mia takes control of Susannah's body and flees to Doorway Cave, where she uses Black Thirteen to transport herself to New York. Roland, Jake, Eddie, and Callahan follow her there but are too late; Mia and Black Thirteen are gone, and the door in the cave is closed. While looking through Tower's books in the cave, Callahan makes a discovery that causes him to question his own existence: a fictional novel called ''
'Salem's Lot'', written by someone named
Stephen King, that seems to recount his encounters with Barlow and the vampires. ==Influences==