Emma Saylor doesn't remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges. Now it's just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable, until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother's family that she hasn't seen since she was a little girl.

While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, ponders whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered--fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. But will she be prepared to face impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love?