William Alexander lives in post-apocalyptic Colorado after a devastating cosmic event. He is surviving at the lowest level of the Corporate's caste system with his father and stepmom, a highly educated foundling. She teaches Will the prohibited lessons from her notebook and books they stole from a burn pile. He loves learning, but he soon discovers, she isn't just broadening his horizons; she's grooming him. Their meager existence comes to a screeching end when they must run from the Corporate soldiers looking for his stepmom. Knowing she is trapped, she gives Will an artifact critical to the rebellion. She tells him he must keep it safe promising someday he'll understand. Following the murders of both his parents, he is adopted and raised by a stranger. Will is steeped in anger and bound by secrets he doesn't understand. When he is forced to align himself with his oppressors, he is set on a path where fate tangles him deeper and ever closer to his mysterious destiny.