The year is 2008, 15 years into the future from the date Kress originally published her book. For many parents who can afford it, in vitro genetic modification of babies has become standard practice. At Chicago's Biotech Institute, the wealthy entrepreneur Roger Camden and his wife Elizabeth request several genetic modifications or “genemods” for their yet un-conceived daughter, specifying that she be blonde and slender with preternaturally high intelligence. Roger also insists on a secret genemod not yet on the market: Sleeplessness. Of the 20 children born so far without the biological need for sleep, 19 are healthy and extraordinarily intelligent. The mother of the 20th, unable to cope with a baby who never slept and rarely stopped crying, shook her infant to death.

A few weeks after the procedure, the Camdens receive a visit from Dr. Susan Melling, the Biotech geneticist who invented the sleeplessness genemod. She informs them that Elizabeth's body fertilized a second egg in addition to the one Biotech implanted with genetic modifications. This means that while Elizabeth is pregnant with twins, only one of them will be born with genetic alterations.