In the dystopian Shanghai habitat, Renato Jackson, a news reporter, contracts to produce children with Jane Murphy, never expecting she'd birth a lone child. Craving the five children he's due, he neglects his daughter, Leah, abandons Jane, and contracts with another woman.

Renato has premature twin boys with his next mate, who's institutionalized for postpartum psychosis. Unable to find housing in the habitat's shrinking market, he moves in with his lover, Mina, who helps with his boys. But Mina's part of an illegal fertility cult and pregnant with his child.

When he gets a call from someone who insists he's his son, he refuses to believe him. He yearns to make peace with his only daughter, but she's part of the Resistance, a group determined to bring down their world.

His childhood enemy, Faro McIver, begins to stalk him, bent on revenge. Faro's a hired thug, who uses his children, especially his daughter, Pax, for his advancement. Renato helps Pax, Leah's childhood friend, escape from Mina's cult, inadvertently bringing her back into her father's sights. Faro can't outrun the past as he tries to take advantage.

Renato's world starts to unravel. His superiors use his image to report news, and an old friend tries to trip him up on a live feed. Amidst a humanity-wide electrical shutdown—remedy for a cyber worm that kills thousands—a jealous elder plots with Faro to take down the Shanghai habitat. Caught in the maelstrom, Renato must make a painful choice.