After the collapse of civilization from an enormous solar flare, Daniel Kissinger attempts to get by in a city constantly plagued with solar radiation. Under S.T.E.A.M.'s strict regime, families must meet a steam quota each month to ensure the maintenance of a protective cloud layer to block the sun's radiation. But when his father, the inventor of ground-breaking steam technologies, is murdered, Daniel decides he's had enough with the way things are. Evan Hamilton, dictator of the city, must be killed.