We will begin our futuristic adventure on Cassia's seventeenth birthday, at an elegant party where she will discover her match, the boy with whom she will spend the rest of her life. She's happy to learn that it's her best friend, Xander, but it's not all sunshine and happily ever after for these two. Cassia and the other teenagers each receive a microcard where they can learn more about their future companions. Just capture? When he looks at his microcard, a face flashes on the screen and it's not Xander. He is the mysterious loner Ky, who cannot be matched due to his low status. He asks and the official answer is that it's a technical problem and not to worry. Now Cassia may not have thought twice about it, other than some cryptic advice from her grandfather on his deathbed. Somewhere between saving tissue samples for future reincarnation and her final I love you, her grandfather advises her to open her eyes to the world and even gives her some illegal poetry to read. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay So Cassia goes off and reads her contraband poem, and gets noticed by none other than Ky face on the screen. Ky keeps her a secret and helps her remember the poems when she is forced to destroy the words for her own safety, and so begins a secret friendship between them. They do fun things like go hiking and Ky teaches Cassia to write. Then the trouble begins. Cassia's father is scolded for losing her grandfather's tissue sample, which Cassia later discovers she deliberately destroyed because her grandfather wanted to die on his own terms. Cassia's mother is called on several suspicious business trips. Then Cassia's close friendship with Ky attracts the attention of company officials that flirting with someone who isn't your match is a big no, and Cassia is forbidden from seeing Ky. The only problem? Now she's totally in love with him and there's really no going back. In her sorting work, Cassia, being one of the best sorters, is selected for a special task of sorting people. She was asked to rank the workers at the food disposal plant (not coincidentally, where Ky works) based on their level of efficiency. The better half will get new, higher-status job assignments in another city, while the poorer half will stay. Ky is right in the middle, but despite the fact that this will distance him from her, Cassia sorts Ky into the better half to give him a chance at a better life. Upon his departure, however, she and the rest of the town discover that he has been sent not to do a good job, but to fight a war against rebels in the Outer Provinces: a death sentence. Citizens are given a special red pill to forget. what they just learned, but Cassia only pretends to take hers, instead of smashing it into the earth. She wants to remember Ky, even if it hurts, and is determined to find him. Luckily, he has the opportunity to do just that. When her family is relocated due to her mother's job, Cassia's family requests a temporary work assignment for her in the Outer Provinces, presumably because she is becoming rebellious. It's the perfect opportunity to sneak away and find Ky, and Xander even gives her supplies for the trip.