Manipulated into committing a reality-warping crime using experimental technology, a romantic young painter searches for a way to stop his ruthless business partner from selling the very monstrosity he helped create-before the people he loves pay the price for his mistakes.

Halfway through his senior year at Crossing University, freshly-dumped Arthur Bland is out of love and out of options. Heartbroken and plagued by strange nightmares, everything changes for Arthur when he is selected to receive a DeepGlass Curio-an experimental brain implant from the most powerful company in the world.

Soon after, Arthur is invited to work on the Polaris project-a secret city hidden in a digital alternate reality, built by a rogue team of developers using Curio technology. At first, everything seems to go well: Arthur is good at the work, his mind is finally off of his ex, and he is quickly swept into a so-called "Starside" courtship with a mysterious young woman named Rebecca.

Yet Arthur's best friend, Alena, begins to suspect that the Polaris project is not what it seems-and that Arthur's new girlfriend may not be who she claims.

After a gruesome incident connected to the project shocks the school, Arthur and Alena find themselves in a race against time with deadly consequences. To survive, they must unravel the riddle of Polaris before it's too late-and the city's dark secret changes reality as they know it forever.