Worldwide disaster strikes early in the new millennium. A chain of cataclysmic volcanic explosions sends a cloud of ash into the atmosphere--three years later, the ash is still falling. Sunlight is scarce. Food is rationed. Cities are becoming wastlands of looting and murder. And sixteen-year-old Miles Newell is sure his family is in increasing danger. Escaping Minneapolis on the Ali Princess-- Miles's startling invention--the Newells hope to find comparative safety int he country. But as the family travel deeper into rural Minnesota, they find that people everywhere have changed. No one can be trusted. In this gripping adventure, a family leave behind all they've ever known to journey into the wilderness and an uncertain future.