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Thalli has fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds left to live. The toxic gas that will complete her annihilation is invading her bloodstream. But she is not afraid.

Thalli is different than others in The State. She feels things. She asks questions. And in the State, this is not tolerated. The Ten scientists who survived the nuclear war that destroyed the world above believe that emotion was at the core of what went wrong--and they have genetically removed it from the citizens they have since created. Thalli has kept her malformation secret from those who have monitored her for most of her life, but when she receives an ancient piece of music to record as her community's assigned musician, she can no longer keep her emotions secreted away.

Seen as a threat to the harmony of her Pod, Thalli is taken to the Scientists for immediate annihilation. But before that can happen, Berk--her former Pod mate who is being groomed as a Scientist--steps in and persuades the Scientists to keep Thalli alive as a test subject.

The more time she spends in the Scientist's Pod, the clearer it becomes that things are not as simple as she was programmed to believe. She hears stories of a Designer--stories that fill her mind with more questions: Who can she trust? What is this emotion called love? And what if she isn't just an anomaly, but part of a greater design?

After escaping an underground annihilation chamber, Thalli, Berk, Rhen, and John find themselves fleeing across the former United States, aboveground for the first time. As the defectors cross the for gotten landscape, the three youths see things the y had only read about on screens: horses, rain, real books--and a colony of unsanctioned survivors living the ancient way in a town called New Hope.

When the citizens of New Hope reveal the truth of what happened years ago, Thalli is left unsettled and skeptical of everything she's ever been told. Can she trust anything from the State, including her own feelings for Berk? When she volunteers for a peace mission to New Hope's violent neighbor, Athens, her confusion mounts as the supposedly ruthless Prince Ale x turns out to be kind and charming. Although everyone in New Hope warned her not to, she can't help but fall for him.

Meanwhile, John's unwavering faith in the goodness of the Designer begins to make its mark on Thalli's heart. But can Thalli really come to trust in a generous, protective Designer who rules over all things? Would that not be setting herself up for another betrayal?

The time for her to decide is now... because the State is closing in.

After several months aboveground, Thalli had almost forgotten what living in the State was like. Programmed to be without emotions or curiosity, she was always an anomaly there. Too emotional. Too curious. Citizens of the State should behave exactly the way the Scientists designed them to behave: work in their assigned fields, maintain productivity.

Thalli's entire genetically engineered generation has been eradicated by a scientocracy that believes human life is expendable. Now a pawn in a mad game of manipulation, held hostage, and tortured in the name of the State, Thalli can barely summon the strength to hope that the future of humanity could be any better.

She clings to her new faith in the Designer. But when she discovers that even the few villages aboveground are in danger of State domination, that fragile faith begins to crumble.

As Thalli, Berk, and Alex make plans to overthrow the evil Dr. Loudin, a chilling secret explains why they have been left alive at all... a personal secret that will haunt Thalli forever. And as she struggles with this new truth, she also struggles with decisions of the heart.

Can the State's expansion be stopped? Or will humanity--above and below the surface--be irreparably damaged? Thalli is faced with a purpose both overwhelming and undeniable: to assume the role of a Revolutionary.