While using a public library computer to find help for her mother who is addicted to pain medicine, twelve-year-old Jolene witnesses a friend's livestreamed crash-landing in the Arizona desert and embarks on a journey to rescue her.

Seven of the eight survivors of the Aero Horizon crash have made it out of the deadly jungle, but the desert into which they have emerged has its own dangers, and they have very little food or water left and no sign of civilization anywhere--meanwhile, one of the survivors is changing, and that may be the greatest threat of all.