Elyssa, a single woman in her mid-thirties, decides that her life can only be fulfilled through motherhood. She strikes out on a journey of in vitro pregnancy from a facility, which on the surface appears to be credible, and gives birth to and raises a daughter, who from the beginning demonstrates exceptional physical and mental prowess.

Sarah, the daughter, is happy in her world but is thrust, against her will, into another locale, where she and others are told that they will be undergoing training to fully realize their not-so-hidden strengths. The facility she's been taken to seems on the surface to be a light-filled, spa-like building nestled in a harsh but beautiful mountain setting.

As she spends more time there, Sarah finds that her suspicions about the place and the people may be well-founded. Sarah finds an ally in her roommate Goldie, and together they navigate beyond the smiling faces to find an underlying and sinister agenda. As the outside world's climate cracks and begins to crumble, Sarah and a small group of desperate cast outs contend with assassins, the vagaries of Mountain weather, and with each one's individual struggle to understand who they are and where and if they fit in this new world.