Ethan Pointe just wants to be normal.

He wants to fit in. But living in a society that treats dying as an afterthought, he struggles to understand what life even is and more importantly, death. To make things worse, he works for a cleanup crew, a team of trained professionals who clean up expired, ignored bodies when they become nuisances. But Ethan manages to suppress his thoughts and get his work done when called upon.

To keep the world a normal place, saving people from death is illegal and will get you a visit from the Retribution Squad, a government force responsible for punishing those crimes and keeping the natural order in balance. As Ethan sees a woman drowning, he knows he is supposed to leave her be but his conscious acts before he can silence it, dragging the woman out of the water before she can perish. Soon after, Ethan and his new friend are on the run, trying to escape the Retribution Squad and their Draconian laws. But running will only get them so far and not everything is what it seems as they seek asylum from the dangers they've created for themselves.