FAITH ... FAMILY ... FREEDOM Tyler has always abided by these three words. As a star high-school athlete from a powerful family, with an adoring girlfriend and a bright future in baseball, he is the perfect Son of America's Fourth Great Awakening. But when his best friend suddenly disappears, it sets him on a path that will lead him to question -- and lose -- everything he once believed in. Casey is a Chaff. Despised because of the crimes of his parents -- and unashamed of his attraction to other boys -- he lives on borrowed time, knowing that on his eighteenth birthday he will be taken away to an unknown fate. As that date approaches, he plans on final seduction, and in his sights he has the perfect target -- Tyler. The America they live in is not the America we know. There are no Pride parades, no Gay-Straight Alliances, no "It Gets Better" -- only the ever-present threat of the secret police and the looming terror of the Reorientation Center. And yet, as these two boys discover when they grow closer together, there are also dreams of escape, and the courage to fight. In a country that sees them as worthless, Tyler and Casey find their true worth -- in themselves, and in what they mean to each other.