Mai and Ming Preuss are finders. Mai rides a Harley and Ming makes scrapbooks. They survive in the Chicago Territories after decades of a nation-wide economic, environmental, and social collapse, what is now called the New Normal.

An old teacher from Chicago asks Mai to assist in solving a kidnapping case that affects the present and future of Moraine, a cultural Protectorate in Southeastern Wisconsin founded by the infamous industrial designer Nathaniel Spaulding. Moraine is one of a small group of protectorates designated to preserve and enhance knowledge and culture as cities and regions implode and overall population declines. Its future is in question because of a conspiracy of political, military, and environmental leaders to redistribute the U.S. population to the east and west coasts and supposedly mitigate further environmental decline.

Solving the kidnapping draws Mai and Ming into a web of deceit in Moraine and beyond and puts them at risk of losing everything as their finding transforms into a more ambitious and dangerous quest.