After losing his wife and son in an accident, James Moore retreats from life to his ranch in the San Diego mountains. A job offer on an ocean-going science vessel restarts his scientific career, until Brainwave Corporation leases the vessel to isolate their 'Dream Degree' technology that can access the brain during sleep to upload a desired curriculum in a fraction of the time - but early testing has gone terribly wrong.

James' Aunts direct the powerful Collective organization, and they despatch Marianne when they are made aware James is being hunted. James and Marianne fall in love, but they are forced to fix Brainwave's failure when the Aunts are abducted.

With few options open to them, they must overcome what appears to be insurmountable odds, in order to save his aunts and themselves.