It has been two years since the first Sifting. The people of Aptos are still trying to piece back the shards of their once coveted society. They are forced to live in fear and trauma, not knowing when The Wave will come again to take their people. Defenseless and defeated, the survivors are all but ready to leave the town and retreat to the surrounding mountains for safety. But even if they did, was there really any refuge capable of withstanding a force as formidable as The Wave? "Everything is going to be okay," Landon reminds himself, "even without her." Or so he thinks.