The human race has successfully managed to destroy their homeplanet, Earth. They take refuge in their new home, 'Work Heaven', a place built by Mr. Adolph Grey. In order to protect this new home from it's greatest enemy (Humans), and from possible destruction, a locked class system has been put in place, which determine the life of a person, down to how many children a family is allowed to have.
The unpermitted children known as "The Extras" are taken and trained to be functional members of the society, with only a years grace to climb the class ladder. However things are not as easy as it seems, stakes are high, and competition even higher, and after loosing her family to this class system, December Blake must climb her way to the top in order to break the class boundaries.