The Cutters, a group of physically enhanced members of the Special Circumstances unit, are crashing a party in Uglyville. There have been rumors that pills containing nanocomputers are infiltrating the city via the Smokies, groups of people who live off the land outside of the City. These nanos destroy the lesions in the brain that keep the populace docile in adherence with standard government practice. When Uglies undergo the procedure to turn them into Pretties, the lesions also make them “bubbleheads”—incapable of complex thought. Tally Youngblood and her fellow Cutters were once Pretties, but they have been turned into Specials by Dr. Cable. Far from being bubbleheads, the Cutters enjoy heightened senses and reflexes, as well as sharpened teeth, swirling body tattoos, and indestructible bones.

Tally’s augmented senses soon detect a Smokey (so called because they smell of campfire), but the girl eludes Tally’s attempts to sedate her. Instead, she is whisked away on a hoverboard dropped in by a Smokey boy: Tally believes it is David, a Smokey with whom she had a relationship as an Ugly. As a de facto leader of the Smokies, David would make an excellent target.