You can survive on Mars-all you need to do is focus. Sixteen-year-old Carolina never wanted to be part of the American Separatist Mars colony. She wanted to live on United Earth with her mother. She can't understand why her mother made her go with her father and stepmother. Didn't Mom see how much stepmother hates her? When a mysterious teenager turns up at the colony, claiming that he comes from a different, Mars, one with cities, canals, and horses, Carolina leaps at the chance to escape. Lleellaatt tells her that his Mars appears when different possible states of the universe are merged by the exertion of a certain kind of mental focus. Carolina doesn't care what her father, or colony president Lance-who's so obviously in love with her-want. She will join Lleellaatt in Focus.