Cracks are appearing in the peaceful and technologically advanced society of New Atlantis. Rescued by mysterious aliens from their sinking island on Earth centuries ago, New Atlanteans are surreptitiously studying their ancestral home for cultural content, including pilfering artifacts. While global conditions on far-away, contemporary Earth are deteriorating, a resistance movement that challenges the Government's exploitation of Earth's cultural riches is gaining momentum.

Four women, each reckoning with loss and change, find themselves caught up in the brewing conflict: a New Atlantean ethnographer on Earth assignment, a military Tracker based on New Atlantis's moon, a San Francisco-based diarist, and a young New Atlantean starting her career at her world's Global Festival. A botched plane landing, a brutal murder, and a mercurial boss force them to improvise. As events unfold and their stories interweave, new threats arise and stakes heighten. But so does fresh hope-for them, for Earth's fate, and for the future of New Atlantis.