Mateo Trujillo, a brilliant but unrecognized PhD candidate, has developed a revolutionary new form of organic nanobots using an algae base. When he's approached by the wealthy and enigmatic heiress, Beverly Seagram, with an offer of unlimited funding, he sees an opportunity to bring his groundbreaking research to life. But Beverly has her own agenda. She suffers from a rare and incurable disease and believes Mateo's "phyconanobots" hold the key to her cure.

Mateo is whisked away to the remote Seagram Institute for Scientific Research (SISR) on an isolated island in the Canadian Arctic. He quickly discovers the institute is a gilded cage, ruled by Beverly's erratic moods and fueled by an ancient, terrifying secret, a powerful statue called Sednamaroq, which she uses to temporarily manage her illness. With the help of his new lover, Jake, and fellow researcher, Jo, Mateo must navigate Beverly's increasingly dangerous obsession and a web of corporate intrigue to escape the island with his life and his research intact. But their escape plan sets off a chain of events far more destructive than they could have imagined, forcing Mateo to confront the ethical consequences of his work and the true cost of freedom.