Angolina Reeves is a simple Ward of the State. In a yearstretch's time, she expects to graduate and become a full-fledged citizen. She will work hard, stay loyal, and if she's lucky one daystretch make it all the way to Alpha clearance. But in the Bunker – a utopian dreamland – disaster is never far away. And when it strikes, she finds herself trapped out in the dark.

And so, together with an unhygienic smack addict by the name of Finian Flanagan and a mysterious stranger from the outside, she sets out to find her way back to civilization. Needled, cajoled, ramrodded, tormented, and bullied, Angolina is forced to contend with adults and in the process become one herself.

But time is running out. For it isn't just cold and hunger that threaten her fragile innocence. Branded a traitor by Control, the Bunker's vast and all-knowing overseer, she must somehow redeem herself before it's too late.