In a future world where people can buy and sell intelligence, citizens are each allocated 100 1.Q. points at birth. When they turn sixteen they can make a choice either to remain as 100s and be cared for by the state, or they can gamble with their intelligence. Those who succeed become high I.Q.s and enjoy all of the benefits this brings; those who fail lead squalid lives and some eventually become I.Q. 30 glidiots, battling in the Glidiot Games in a pop-up maze where they kill one another for I.Q. points and for public amusement. 100s are not taught to read or write and believe that Corporate City is the last city remaining on Earth after an earlier war. The city is surrounded by The Great Wall, a ten storey construction that encircles the metropolis and separates it from the nuclear Wasteland beyond.

Joseph and his typical 100 family are attending the Glidiot Games, when he recognises the winner of the night. Having been haunted by nightmares involving this man, Joseph abandons his usual 100 caution to find out how their lives are connected. Together, they go beyond the Great Wall.