Tetley, an optimistic girl living by herself in Garbagetown, is harassed by other citizens who write things like "NIHILIST" on her door and hurt her (they're allowed, in this society, to do anything but kill her, and then she must thank her attackers for their instruction). However, she is grateful to live in Garbagetown, a pile of garbage the size of Texas that floats in the ocean, because everything else is underwater and her other options (like drowning or searching fruitlessly for land in a boat) are bleak. Tetley reminisces about her twin brother, Maruchan, who never visits her anymore, as well as the events that led to her ostracism. When she turned ten and was allowed to obtain her name, a rite of passage in her world, Tetley traveled to Electric City and met a boy named Goodnight Moon who taught her about electricity. After returning, she and Maruchan weren't as connected and her parents still didn't love her. Seven years later, Brighton Pier, a traveling entertainment group, arrived at Electric City, so Tetley and her family went there. The Brighton Pier folks preached that they had seen dry land. Tetley reunited with Goodnight Moon, and they had sex in a tent. Goodnight Moon told Tetley that they were going to find dry land and live there together, but a Brighton Pier girl overheard and told them that there is not really any dry land and the world is "nothing but blue." Goodnight Moon didn't believe her, but Tetley did, and when Garbagetown planned to use all their resources to find land, Tetley built a bomb and destroyed the engine they built. Tetley is ostracized but content because even though the other Garbagetowners think she has ruined them, she believes she has saved everyone: that there is hope in Garbagetown but not elsewhere.