By the author of The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace, Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of economic and social collapse. Living in their car and surviving on tips from Charmaine's job at a dive bar, they are increasingly vulnerable to roving gangs and find themselves in a rather desperate state. So when they see an advertisement for the Positron Project in the town of Consilience—a 'social experiment' offering stable jobs and a home of their own—they sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for this suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month, swapping their home for a prison cell. At first, all is well. But slowly, unknown to each other, Stan and Charmaine develop a passionate obsession with their counterparts, the couple that occupies their home when they are in prison. Soon, the pressures of conformity, mistrust, guilt, and sexual desire begin to take their toll.