Martin Nitram lives within the crushing reality of the hypercompetitive Grid, where people voluntarily buy and sell each other on a regulated human market exchange. In a world where efficiency rules and few have time to dream and imagine, Martin has an exceptional and undeveloped gift: he is an uber-dreamer. Capitalist titan Byron Brooks has secret plans to exploit Martin's talent with a revolutionary medical device that enables even the most mechanistic and sleep-deprived human to dream again. As Brooks vies for control of the young man's fate, Martin follows his dreams and triggers a series of unpredictable events that will empower him to either transcend the Grid or lead him to insanity.