The devastating aftermath of Shift reveals a world teetering on the edge of chaos. A rash of deaths across the political spectrum and the near-total destruction of the Organas has left a power vacuum that must be filled. But not even becoming a hologram could make Violet James forget who she is - or how important it is that she find Stephen York. Legendary hacker Ryu and his team are searching for York too, poking through holes in the Beam. Noah West, father of the Beam, is back and desperate to find Chloe Shaw - but he's being hunted too. Alliances are forged and fates entwine as the hunt for Stephen York intensifies, Chloe Shaw rises, and another wave of deadly cleansing washes over the NAU. Can the Beam be stabilized, or will it become a tool of the one person who shouldn't be allowed to control it?