The son of a Russian immigrant, protagonist Leonard (Lenny) Abramov, a middle-aged, middle class, otherwise unremarkable man whose mentality is still in the past century, falls madly in love with Eunice Park, a young Korean-American from New Jersey struggling with materialism and the pressures of her traditional Korean family. The chapters alternate between profuse diary entries from the old-fashioned Lenny and Eunice's biting e-mail correspondence on her "GlobalTeens" account.
In the background of what appears to be a love story that oscillates between superficiality and despair, a grim political situation unravels. America is on the brink of economic collapse, threatened by its Chinese creditors. In the twilight nation, the only three industries left are Media, Credit, and Retail. In the meantime, the totalitarian Bipartisan Party government's main mission is to encourage and promote consumerism while eliminating political dissidents,[2] under US President Cortez. Abramov is a member of the Creative Class, who sells long-term life extension to high net worth individuals in Italy.[3] Italy is the only country in Europe that still has any meaningful dealings with the US. The United States invaded Venezuela at some point.[4] In the story, to describe the change in relative positions, six million Chinese Yuan is equal to US$50 million.[4] The current USA is fixed in a cult of youth based on the oversaturated "GlobalTeens" social media site, which has the phrase "Less words = more fun!!!".[3] The US is called an "unstable, barely governable country presenting grave risk to the international system of corporate governance and exchange mechanisms" by a member of the Chinese Central Bank.[3]
Abramov, acting as the POV character, explains the future of the US in the wake of the sudden collapse of the Bipartisan government, in a political event called “The Rupture".[5]
