This novel is set in the near future, where human genome editing has become routine. First adopted to fight a lethal virus, it is now widely used to prevent diseases and favor other traits. Ben, Eiko, Celia, Raphael, and Leo have just had their coming-of-age genome reading and are struggling with this new information for each their own reasons. Soon, they are cast into the middle of a crisis that threatens the future of their society and pits it against a parallel, but strictly separated, society where genome manipulation is forbidden on religious grounds.
The book includes an essay on the potential of human genome engineering and related genome-based choices.