The government of the Americas controls the world's dwindling food supply and, due to overwhelming overpopulation, incarcerates children who exceed an arbitrary weight limit. Detroit teen Calla Ryan knows what hunger is every day of her life.
Snatched away from her family without notice, Calla joins her cousin Laurel at a remote ‘fat camp’ after new sensors installed at her high school find her overweight. The only surprise is that she and Laurel are both the picture of health and well within the state limit.
Mysterious events heighten Calla’s involvement at the fat camp; Laurel goes missing without explanation, Calla’s counsellor is found dead in his room from an apparent drug overdose, and the infirmary summons Calla for a routine inoculation that might prove to be deadly.
On the outside, a virus that began overseas has now made its way to the Americas with dire consequences. Victims with the mutated flu virus attack the camp for food as the illness ravages them with insatiable hunger. Calla must flee from the invasion, pushing deeper into the Canadian Shield with only two people in the world she can trust: Billy and Madge.