Around midnight, in a house on a peaceful road in rural Minneapolis, gatecrashers quietly murder Luke Ellis' folks and burden him into a dark SUV.
The activity takes under two minutes. Luke will awaken at The Foundation, in a room that closely resembles his own, besides there's no window.
What's more, outside his entryway are different entryways, behind which are different children with exceptional gifts — supernatural power and clairvoyance — who arrived at this spot the same way. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, "similar to the cockroach inn.
In this generally vile of establishments, the chief, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are savagely committed to removing from these youngsters the power of their extranormal gifts.
There are no second thoughts here. Assuming you come, you get tokens for the candy machines. In the event that you don't, discipline is ruthless. As each new casualty vanishes to Back Half, Luke turns out to be increasingly more frantic to get out and find support.
Yet, nobody has at any point gotten away from the Organization.