Marris Sheffield, a fifteen-year-old orphan living in a late 21st century academy for unwanted children, is just three years away from phasing out of the program and becoming a valuable member of society. Until then, she's stuck within the confines of the academy's heavily fortified grounds. All is going as expected... until the kids become sick with an undisclosed illness and then a series of deaths occur, deaths which lead Marris and others to question the academy's agenda.