In a cold, distant future, where the Government brings new, harsher laws against truancy into force, fourteen-year-old Nyka Haversham finds that she has nowhere to turn. As the bullying meted out to her by two boys in her form gets worse but is cruelly ignored, so does her phobia of school - and truancy becomes her only means of escape. She encounters a strange, expressionless young psychic in her local arcade, who warns her not to stay away from school after reading her fortune in his crystal ball, which reveals a sinister-looking man in a black suit and tie. But once the bullying turns physical, Nyka flees home, feeling unable to face the classroom ever again; and from the evening a school attendance officer visits her house with threats that she could end up in juvenile court if her truancy persists, her life spirals out of control, leading to events that alter herself and her future forever.