Two years after the events of Little Brother and Marcus has new problems to deal with: California's economy has collapsed, taking his parents’ jobs and his university tuition with it. On his return from the Burning Man festival with his girlfriend Ange, Marcus lands a job as webmaster for a muckraking politician who promises reform. Things are never simple, though: old frenemies from his Xnet days come out of exile with amazing tales of political corruption, powerful billionaires bent on "austerity" at any cost, a subprime bubble built on student debt, and a Homeland Security Industrial Complex that isn't about to let anyone get in its way. Marcus is now a mole in the political establishment, embroiled in lethal political intrigue and the sharp end of class warfare, American style.