The Baxter Center for Cancer Research, a small lab in Black Harbor, Massachusetts, has drawn national attention after the leak of some very controversial files, known only as the "Omegas." These files revealed the true nature of the lab's purpose: to manipulate human DNA in order to create a master race. For sixteen year old Carson Lovely, whose mother is the director of research at Baxter, the ordeal was especially humiliating. When the federal government shuts down the lab and confiscates all of the research, Carson and the rest of the townspeople of Black Harbor believe they can go back to their normal lives and move past this blemish on their otherwise sterling reputation as a tourist destination. But when a mysterious boy arrives in town, Carson begins to wonder if her mother has returned to her grim work.