Jina Jubilee Brubaker--an outcast teenager in her mother's home school program--has had the same recurring dream since she was born. In this dream, these strange creatures seem to exalt her, and she still has no idea what anything in it means. She does, however, have a gift that helps her sense the feelings or emotions of all living things, which explains her love for the outdoors. Kennan Hardin--a high school graduate and history nerd--wants nothing more than to get out from under his Dad's thumb, but even his best friend Jake can't get him out of it. The two of them have no way of getting out of their lives at home, and then both receive the opportunity from an email sent to them by the M. Brubaker company. The details of the email take them both to Miami, Florida on the same day to board a small cruise ship holding 30 of the smartest teenagers in America. All seems normal enough until they are all given survival tests on each island, and they quickly realize that their numbers are dwindling ever so slowly down to the last few who have survived: Jina Brubaker, Kennan Hardin, Audrey Pointer, Basker Kulikov, and Corey Jameson. Unfortunately in their trip, they meet Jina's lost Uncle, Daniel Brubaker, who runs the Better Earth Inc. And he has eyes everywhere. He has never been mentioned to Jina, but he has chased after her since the day she was born. He claims that he has met the creatures in her dreams, and that he can answer everything Jina has been asking about herself. Who is she really? Who are the creatures in her dreams? Did Daniel actually speak to them? More importantly, is the end of the world a lot closer than anyone could have anticipated?