45 years after the Great Destruction, civil society has rebuilt itself under new conditions: no government, no laws, no allegiances. The New Youth has lived underground it all, composed of the children who have been left behind to grow up with only each other. But Joanne, the youngest, senses something has changed: maybe it's the voices, maybe the air. Nonetheless, she must leave with only the clothes she's wearing and a backpack. What's above it all, and will she succumb to its mystery?