The archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating world. Here, people enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the health monitors embedded in their forearms fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to a facility where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they restart life afresh.

Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, shepherding people through the retirement process—and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with him. He’s been dreaming—which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera—and his monitor percentage is dropping fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.

Meanwhile, unrest is building. The support staff, ordinary men and women who help to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. And there are rumors spreading of a resistance group—known as Arrivalists—who may be fomenting revolution.

Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized—and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.