section_path: Premise
section_name: Premise
paragraph_text: Premise
  
  The book is told through a series of paragraphs, linked to large illustrations. The main story follows Michelle, a teenage orphan traveling to the West Coast with a robot companion, Skip, to find her long-lost brother. Flashbacks gradually reveal Michelle's past and the reason for her separation.
  
  Intertwined with Michelle's journey are details of the novel's setting, Pacifica (later revealed to be California.) Pacifica is portrayed as a hyper-consumerist society in decline, with the vast majority of the population using brain-computer interfaces called Neurocasters to escape the trauma of a second civil war. Technological addiction has become a widespread issue, leading to a widespread breakdown of law and order through which Michelle must travel.
  
  The book is told through a series of paragraphs, linked to large illustrations. The main story follows Michelle, a teenage orphan traveling to the West Coast with a robot companion, Skip, to find her long-lost brother. Flashbacks gradually reveal Michelle's past and the reason for her separation.
  
  Intertwined with Michelle's journey are details of the novel's setting, Pacifica (later revealed to be California.) Pacifica is portrayed as a hyper-consumerist society in decline, with the vast majority of the population using brain-computer interfaces called Neurocasters to escape the trauma of a second civil war. Technological addiction has become a widespread issue, leading to a widespread breakdown of law and order through which Michelle must travel.