The novel opens with the first entry in Theo's diary. It is the year 2021, but the novel's events have their origin in 1995, which is referred to as "Year Omega". In 1994, the sperm count of human males plummeted to zero, a feminist civil war broke out, and mankind now faces imminent extinction. The last people to be born are now called "Omegas". "A race apart", they enjoy various prerogatives. Theo writes that the last human being to be born on Earth has been killed in a pub brawl.