When Sachem Laggerveld meets Bo and Rinx to drink some hooch beneath the stad, he jeopardizes his place on the LeaderTrack and his chance to become a Health Care Hero. Even worse, by violating the Committee for Public Health and Safety rules, he may have caused the latest annual pandemic, COVID-40, to be the worst one ever.
Sachem's infraction sets in motion a string of mishaps as the day spins wildly out of control. Showing up late for calisthenics turns out to be the highlight of his day. Before it's through, Sachem faces a Human Health Crisis in his Regional Health Center Lab and a conflict with his Shift Supervisor. This results in an insub on his ROCK, a ride on the FieldSpark wave, and imprisonment in the Leadership Block basement.
Things take a sinister turn when he falls under the influence of Duncan, a mercurial District Leader, who enlists Sachem in a plot to uncover a Malcontent Cell in the Radion Group Plant. In short order however, he discovers that not all is as it seems, that everything he has been taught is a lie, and that he is carrying a secret that may well shatter his world beyond repair.