In the far future, a time when the sun's radioactive expansion has forced mankind to seek refuge in the deepest part of the ocean, and with little hope of survival, the fate of the Cain family is inevitably and tragically tied to that of our dying world. Stel Cain, the eternal optimist, has begun a perilous journey from the depths of the sea to the surface to intercept a deep-space probe, returned to earth with the location of an inhabitable planet, that mankind could escape to. But there is another Cain in the deep: Stel's long-lost daughter Della, who has grown up to be a Hope Hunter, seeker and destroyer of all things that would instill in people a false sense of hope, distractions from life's grim reality. When Della hears of the probe, the ultimate symbol of hope, she sets her courses to the surface as well, to destroy the beacon...and any who would seek to share its light.