By telling his corporate bosses to shove it, seventeen-year old intern Kip Pureweather may have pushed the Incorporated Realms of America into the third Dark Ages. Kip's first assignment away from Vassalcorp headquarters in York City sends him on mechanical horseback to the farmlands of Ohio. With feisty office-maiden Abbey Fairchild in tow, the two trade barbs as often as they do stolen glances. Just as Kip and Abbey are finding common ground, Kip learns the nature of his assignment - the foreclosure of the Fairchild farm. When faced with destroying a family to secure his future as a knight-executive, Kip defies the all-powerful corporations and changes his destiny forever. Kip's insubordination makes him an instant outlaw, and the only place out of the corporations' reach is the forbidden Empty Lands north of the Realms. But the Empty Lands hold a secret the corporations have kept since the time of the Generex, a war that brought them to power and ushered in the second Dark Ages. With knowledge of an imminent threat, Kip returns for Abbey, and with the help of a slave, a mailroom clerk, a tabloid princess, and the self-proclaimed greatest-mind-of-their-time, they take a stand against the corporations and the impending destruction of their world.