2039: The Russians didn't use the big nukes. The ongoing Third World War has left parts of Europe in ruins. Into the chaos steps the Second Alliance, a multinational eager to impose its own kind of New World Order. In the United States—in FirStep, the vast space colony and on the artificial island Freezone—the SA shoulders its way to power, spinning a dark web of media manipulation, propaganda, and infiltration. Only the New Resistance recognizes the SA for what it really is: a racist theocracy hiding a cult of eugenics. Enter Rick Rickenharp, a former rock'n'roll cult hero: a rock classicist out of place in Europe's underground club scene, populated by wiredancers and minimonos—but destined to play a Song Called Youth that will shake the world.