For as long as she could remember, Britta Lockhart has lived on an island somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with people all under the age of sixteen. All she knows is that when she turns sixteen she'll be taken away from the island and will have to pass some kind of test - but no one knows what kind of test it is and no one ever returns to the island. But when disaster strikes and everyone is taken from the island sudddenly, Britta realizes that the test isn't at all what she'd thought it'd be and neither is the program that made the island. Soon, it becomes all too clear that they are never going to be set free and she must get herself and her friends out of the country - before the program can make its evil intentions a reality.