Eight years ago, Silvia Wood's father died in an industrial accident. After suffering through years of Psychotherapy Services and Mandated Medications dealing with her loss, she longs to work in Botanical Sciences. When the Occupation Exam determines she must work in Mortuary Sciences instead, she wonders if the New Order assigned her to the morgue to push her over the edge.

To appease her disappointed mother, Silvia enters the Race for Citizen Glory, in hopes to stand out in the crowd of Equals. Once she begins training with "golden boy" Liam Harman, she discovers he also lost his father in the same accident that ruined her childhood. Then Silvia meets and falls for Liam's older cousin, whose paranoid intensity makes her question what really happened to her dad. As the race nears, Silvia realizes that she's not only running for glory, she's also running for her life.