It is the year 2038. A genetic accident has brought forth a new world, new rules, and a new set of cultures. Death has gone airborne and the end of the world is coming. Dr. Jesse Grange has spent much of his adult life trying to rebuild a damaged land. He lives as hero and celebrity, guardian of one of the last remaining safe havens on the continent. But the mistakes of the past have at last caught up with him, and deep in his underground laboratories his hopes of a real future for his people are dashed. Jesse takes his dark secret with him to the edge of the sea where his brother, banished Keeper of the sick, is dying. On the shore the air is grey, the sand bitterly cold, and the tainted ocean unduly warm.