In the surreal academic landscape of Tumbarumba, history professor Stella Pontifex discovers that grease is not merely a culinary byproduct but a metaphysical archive of human memory. As the world suffers from “The Great Sizzle” and a subsequent “thinning” of reality known as attenuation, Stella is contacted by the spirits of legendary Grease Prophets like Frank and Glen. These apparitions warn her that corporate interests and a fanatical cult, the Way of Dryness, are draining the universe of its viscosity and historical depth. To prevent existence from becoming a brittle, unseasoned husk, Stella must travel through bureaucratic afterlives and commercialised voids to understand how to preserve cosmic lubricity. Ultimately, she becomes a quiet custodian of memory, using her scholarly discipline to mend the shimmering currents of a world threatened by spiritual evaporation.