In the 2080's, Generation Theta is growing up into what seems like an ideal utopia... but only for the lucky kids who attend the prestigious Academy of Arts in Seawall, Oregon, and other safe havens among the smoggy dystopian wreck that the rest of the world calls home. The students are crafted into 'perfect adolescents', in terms of both skill and beauty, but half of them come from a tube... not exactly a fair race. For one kid named Dim Romanov, it's even less fair - but not because he's losing. Dim has been raised to perform one function: invisible marketing. Sell products to other students and their parents by adopting them as his own, and soft-advertise them in subtle conversation - like a school sleeper agent. Dim's creepy handler is hoping that he's the true 'shining star' of the bunch, and that his strange penchant for persuasion gives him the success he's been craving all his life... but Dim has other ideas. Not only is Dim missing his real parents who've been wiped off the map, but the only thing he wants in life is a genuine friendship built on real connection. Which means the corporate plugs have got to go, and so does the creep.