Four hundred years in the future, nanomachines take care of humankind's dirty work, from cleaning to manufacturing. Some things never change, though, as the stories of five disparate people, from a snoopy news researcher to a megalomaniacal tycoon, reveal the paranoias, disenchantments, treachery, and deceit in this world where the fat and happy got fatter and happier while the poor became even poorer.