Wendell Weston is a teenage boy living in Texas, in a world where big corporations like Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Walmart sponsor everything from housing, to schooling, to church. Wendell lives at the Pepsi Texan Megamall in Houston; his girlfriend August, a teenager and his classmate in high school, lives nearby at the Supercenter mall, and the two of them meet on the bus for school— a religious Catholic school called St. James, also located in a mall — daily. The two often mess around in the school’s alcoves and smoke cigarettes outside when their teachers, who live in the Capital One building, can’t see them.  Wendell regularly visits the mall beneath his apartment, taking out teen virtual loans of $60 a week to go on shopping sprees everywhere from GameStop to the food court. Armed with his finance card, which all teens aged 13-19 are eligible for, he spends his loans on consumer goods before returning home to his mother, who warns him about having to pay off his loans well into middle age. Wendell and his family go to church in the Supercenter mall for a Pepsi-Cola and EA Games sponsored mass; on the way back home, Wendell learns that there is a stand-alone church in a town called Timbergrove. Convincing August to join, the two venture to Holy Family church, surprised to find a service void of television screens and vending machines.  Returning to school, Wendell learns that his economics project partner, Trenton — one of the few Black kids in school — goes to Holy Family too. Trenton lives in the Walmart, a status looked down upon by other community members. He invites Wendell over to meet his family, and on Sunday the group drives to Holy Family for services. After the service without his usual food court food or spending, Wendell frantically returns to the Megamall, overriding his parents’ loan account control to withdraw an inordinate amount of money from his loan account. In a frenzy, Wendell purchases things from a plethora of mall stores and returns to his room, passing out from a sugar, junk food, and video-game induced coma. Waking up the next day, he tries to return all of his purchases, only to be told that he cannot.  Wendell learns that August got into University of America in the Mall of America, and secretly decides he will not be moving with her to Minnesota. After a conversation with Trenton about virtual funds and Trenton’s resistance to being a part of “the system,” Wendell begins to have a change of heart. He sells his video games, says goodbye to August, and moves into an apartment in Walmart after graduation in order to attend Holy Family church. With these choices, Wendell knows that “there’s no going back now,” and pledges to “find what lies beyond the sliding doors” of the corporate mall empire he’s lived in thus far.