In a ruined and toxic landscape, within a giant underground silo hundreds of stories deep, lives a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Then Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo's rules for years, breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. His decision unleashes a drastic series of events. His unlikely replacement - Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, is about to learn how badly...

"For generations, Rich Gundersen's family has made a living felling giant redwoods on California's rugged coast. It's treacherous work, and though his son, Chub, wants nothing more than to step into his father's boots, Rich longs for a bigger future for him. Colleen just wants a brother or sister for Chub, but she's losing hope. There is so much that she and Rich don't talk about these days--including her suspicions that there is something very wrong...

In 2137, fourteen-year-old Matt is stunned to learn that, as the clone of El Patrón, he is expected to take over as leader of the corrupt drug empire of Opium, where there is also a hidden cure for the ecological devastation faced by the rest of the world.