In 2032, America is nearing financial collapse after entering its seventh conflict in Iraq. At home, government-funded stem cell research has produced a medical breakthrough once thought impossible: the ability to replicate human organs. But when corporate greed takes hold, a discovery meant to save lives begins reshaping society in ways no one anticipated.
As cloning extends human life, the population surges beyond sustainable limits. The government responds with a chilling solution: every citizen is implanted with an "etch," a device that tracks age and signals when a person has reached the mandatory age of death. The years remaining on an etch can be bought and sold-and soon, human longevity becomes one of the most valuable commodities on earth.