It's the near future, and NASA has been defunded and replaced exclusively by private corporations. NOVA Branson is one such group, which OWNS an illustrious resort in Earth's orbit. Karie Chen is a former NASA astronaut who gained a brief stardom following her past; she was able to save her mission after something goes wrong in the NASA days. Now, all she does is go on speaking tours about the evils of space corps for other space-exploration enthusiasts, but there is no NASA to encourage their exploration. Corporations mostly stick to Earth's orbit, where the money is. The story opens with Karie going to NOVA Branson's space resort in an attempt to curry favor with the CEO, but he requires her to publicly endorse the company, which she will not do. Later, the CEO's son, Jonah, manages to convince his father to fund a mission for he and Karie — and two other former astronauts — to go to Mars in the name of science, not profit. When the arrive in Mars' orbit, something goes wrong with the landing module, and Karie and Jonah crash land on Mars. They make it to the Pilgrim 1 settlement, which is a self-sustaining outpost which they live on while they try to contact someone on Earth, where they are presumed to be dead. Jonah assumes that NOVA Branson orchestrated the crash so that he would be killed, meaning his father wouldn't have to pass on the company to him.