Divided by their society into Wanted and Unwanted at thirteen, estranged twin brothers Aaron and Alex have both run into trouble--as mage of Artime, Alex must defend the island from attack, while Aaron continues to scheme to take over the islands and get rid of the Unwanteds altogether.

As the Wanteds, Unwanteds, and Necessaries struggle to adjust to changes in their society, Mr. Today begins training fourteen-year-old Alex to replace him as Artime's leader one day while Alex's disgraced twin, Aaron, connives to take over Quill.

In 1973, the year of Watergate, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Roe v. Wade, seventeen-year-old Patty, a newly minted Congressional page, starts to question everything as she learns to think for, and rely on, herself.