Proctor Bennett lives a charmed life in Prospera. A beautiful home. A lovely wife, Elise. Good friends. A rewarding career as a ferryman, escorting people through the retirement process. But when he is assigned to retire his own father, things go awry.

His father declares, “The world is not the world. You’re not you.” He bolts for his freedom, but is violently subdued by watchmen and escorted onto the ferry for his journey to the island known as the Nursery, but not before uttering one final, mysterious word. “Oranios.”

Shaken, Proctor questions everything he’s known about the world. He came from the Nursery as a teenager and was assigned to his parents, but his new mother committed suicide. Outside of the island of Prospera, he knows little of the world. He’s never really thought of the hordes of workers who come from the Annex to work in menial jobs. He even questions his job and what really happens when people retire.

Layer by layer, Cronin reveals the truth of Proctor’s life and the meaning of Prospera’s existence.