As an alien invasion thins Earth's population by a fifth and drains the oceans to devastating levels, Young Carter Nesbitt, his father, and his math teacher are taken from a small town in the American southeast.
But unlike the rest of the abducted, they are returned, bearing an alien artifact, knowledge of an even graver danger to Earth, and strange new abilities.
When Homeland Security's new Director of Extraterrestrial Affairs catches wind of their trip, he will stop at nothing to capture them.