Alistair Bethel is a young teen living in a futuristic world. On Xephos V, technology is the lifeblood of civilization; the elite and middle class live in massive satellites orbiting the sprawling slums of the planet below, ravaged by nuclear waste and populated by extraterrestrials who are seen as inferior. Alistair is an outsider; his mother, unable to take care of him, entrusted him to Xephos V's Children's Home. Every Solar Trimester, the residents of the home have a chance to meet their birth mothers on Memory Day; Alistair's mother has never appeared. But, when he suddenly begins to experience dreams of his mother's face, and is framed for a horrific crime, he must take on a journey into the heart of Xephos V and beyond to discover his past and save himself; otherwise, the safety of the entire planet may be compromised.