Every year, a lottery is held for the hard-working people of Lutum. The prize? Eternal life. And everyone wants it. Well, everyone except for 17-year-old Silverstasia Blackwood. She doesn't think it's fair that the rich get to live luxurious lives while the people of Lutum are enslaved, forced to work hard every day to support the immortals.

In a not-so-distant future, women outnumber men 7 to 1, and no one can explain it. Threatened by this mysterious phenomenon, the government impulsively passes new abortion laws and strips women of their rights. Meanwhile, eighteen-year-old Eve Malum watches the riots and protests through her television screen, terrified of the America she no longer recognizes. Unlike her mother and sister, however, she doesn’t have the courage to go out there and demand freedom for all women.

The world is split in two...and either side could be fatal for her. In a society of extreme haves and have nots, Tenly Hawkins is firmly the latter. Born into the Cobalts, the lowest rung of society, she's done everything possible to escape her fate. She's obeyed all the rules...earned her way out of squalor. So, when she finally manages to secure a position in the Premier Workforce, she's sure all her hard work is about to pay off. But as it turns out, life among the elite Scarlets isn't as rosy as it appears from the outside.

In the realm of Kravan, children of lower-class citizens are raised in a prison-like structure called "The Tower" from birth until adulthood. Known as the Tethered, they are held in thrall until their powers reveal themselves around the time of their nineteenth birthday. Every year, the Tethered who are tested and deemed harmless are chosen to leave the Tower and join the outside world as servants to live in the households of the ruling class. Those who are deemed threats are taken away—and no one knows what happens to them, though they suspect the worst.

On her 17th birthday, Ashen Spencer is blindfolded and escorted to the massive, mysterious building known as the Arc to begin her year of training and testing in hopes that she can earn the Cure - a powerful drug given only to those deemed worthy to survive beyond their 18th birthday. Ashen has a chance to rise up from her former life of squalor and be granted a place in society, if the Panel - the mysterious group of powerful men and women in charge of the Arc - deems her year a success.