America has become a plutocracy-ruled by the stock market and corporate greed. The wealthy elite live in comfort within heavily guarded gated communities, while the poor and the welfare classes are locked away behind razor-wire and high fences. The middle class stumbles through their lives, without hope of a brighter future, without hope of ever achieving the "American Dream." The people are hording weapons and supplies, waiting for the opportunity to rise up and take back the government. Secret societies have emerged all over the country, meeting in warehouses and basements, the back rooms of social clubs, and in private homes. One of these, hiding out in an old speakeasy in downtown St. Louis, has teamed up with a group of militarized anarchists to create a revolution. Led by the enigmatic and beautifully dangerous Odalis Gienah, the wealthy mystical beatnik Jack Danton and Sam Taylor, Odalis' former flame and a reluctant last-minute replacement, the team from the speakeasy commits an act of domestic terrorism and sets up the US government to take the blame. Riots break out in every major city and a massive mob of armed rural civilians responds and descends on St. Louis, congregating under the shadow of the Gateway Arch. As the US Army mobilizes for a swift Federal response, a violent spring storm strikes the city and Odalis loses the one thing that gave her inspiration.