The surface of the earth is empty, the Children of Man occupying the many virtual worlds of the net instead. Their experiences and sensations flow through commercial optical pathways beneath the ground like electricity through neurons. It is in this place that we meet the few who would rather just disconnect. A detective who spends more time battling his depressive demons then solving crime looks for the identity of a victim found in an abandoned place. A battered virtual prostitute haunted by the anonymous clients she's met on the net looks for an escape. A hacker working for a mysterious rebel faction pursues a woman consumed by her past. In the city of New Babel, the last human city, the story of these three lives will be connected and interwoven by one selfless act of love.