The story takes place in the year 2080, after World War III. Angela Thomas, an eleven-year old girl, tells the story of her recent horrific six-week adventure in Similar Township where her family recently relocated to help her step dad's career. Although what appears to be a positive move for the Thomas family, the town's approval for a new a race elimination experiment makes the move questionable and frightening. Angela is furious about moving because she is entering her first year of middle school and leaving her best friends since kindergarten and fears that she may fall in love with a boy she is forbidden to date because in Similar, dating or marrying someone within your same race is forbidden. .
Upon moving day, they suddenly learn that there are more rules and restrictions in Similar than they were unaware, and Richards points out that everyone in Similar should know the laws and follow them or face the consequences. While visiting the town square, Angela and her mom, Susan, meet a mysterious old woman who gives Susan a baffling note that no one is able to decipher. She also oddly gives Angela a gift that has more significance than she ever imagined. The first week, Angela almost gets hit by a car, meets a cute boy named Victor who she realizes that she can't date because he's black and learns of two kids who mysteriously disappear within weeks after breaking a few of Richard's rules. Angela discovers that no one in town had ever heard of the mysterious woman she met in town and learns that some kids at school get headaches after drinking the water and questions if more is going on at the town water plant then just filtering water. Rumors surface that the kids who disappeared had not run away as Richards had announced to the town, but something awful had happened to them, and Angela assures herself that it is her mission and destiny to unearth the wrongs done. When Angela and her new friends also disappear, her parents are left to find them and expose the secrets the town holds with help from unexpected sources.