In the beginning, we broke our word, and then came the lights.
How might our quarrelsome and wasteful ways be seen through the gaze of more distant and dispassionate eyes? And how might a promise once made by the leaders of the world be re-paid having been broken by their successors?
30 years later, on a night whose dark skies were filled with a magical light show, towns, cities, entire transport networks as well as billions of people begin to vanish. But out in the rural areas of the world, life goes on unaffected by the invasion, or the enigmatic "lights" that appear out of nowhere, surveying the survivors.
In the aftermath of this unstoppable invasion by an invincible alien force, one survivor wants more than mere survival; Leonora "Lenny" Dixon wants answers. Why are the invaders here, and what do they want of us?
In search of answers, Lenny and her boyfriend Jay leave the relative safety of Cumbria, a mountainous region of England, and begin a journey south, through the great northern city of Manchester. On their way they discover the true and terrifying purpose of the invaders, finally revealing the horrifying truth behind the disappearing industry and civilization of man, and of mankind itself.