Thirteen-year-old John has never questioned his life of back-breaking work for the District Leader-- until the day he meets the wild girl and tastes the forbidden water. Cool, clear spring water, utterly unlike the sickly liquid John has always known, it gives him a new aliveness, awakens him to both hope and fear... and impells him to escape.

He joins others who have fled from the Party, and with them he develops an awareness of himself, of other people, and of the world around him. The more he learns about the ways the Party has "kept everyone quiet and working" since it came to power in 1997, the more precarious his new-found freedom seems--and the more precious.

A sort of "1984" for children and young adults, though grown-ups can enjoy it as well.