Keeping the trend of continuing exactly where the previous novels left off, the book picks up with Michael and the Electroclan traveling back to North America to discover what happened to Timepiece Ranch. The action cuts to the members of the Elgen, where Dr. Hatch orders the dismissal and execution by rats of an important subordinate, Welch, whom he entrusted with the mission to stop the Electroclan and protect Jade Dragon (which he obviously failed, given the events of the last novel).
Scott, the resistance pilot, transports the Electroclan to a small town in Mexico (via Arizona) called Naco, where they plan to stay before venturing to the destroyed ranch base. There, Michael fends off a hostile gang, and in doing so accidentally uses an unprecedented amount of electricity, becoming almost a ball of lightning himself, and painlessly develops scars known as Lichtenberg figures.
Mr. Ridley, Taylor's father, learns that he is a prime suspect in the disappearance of Taylor and her mother.
At the ranch, the Electroclan verifies, through Ian's electrolocation, that there were no resistance deaths; everyone cleared out before the attack. There is still a living but wounded Elgen soldier, whom they transport to the U.S. for interrogation. At the border crossing, they get through without any difficulty, which seems suspicious. While in a hotel, Gervaso finds them and tells them that everyone evacuated before the ranch was destroyed, so they're all safe. They head to another ranch base of the resistance, this one called Christmas Ranch, where they spend the rest of the novel attempting to devise a plan to stop Hatch's plan for world domination by forcefully taking control of the island of Tuvalu.
Tara and Quentin, having learned that Hatch sentenced Welch (an almost-father figure to the members of the Elgen Academy) to death, work together and rescue him. Hatch puts Quentin in charge of the occupation of Tuvalu. They take over, and Hatch overturns the regime, instituting his own government in the new Hatch Islands. He takes the former prime minister and makes him into the "Prime Monkey," planning to put him in a cage of monkeys, take his clothing and his tongue, and put him on public display. Faced with this display, the rest of the Tuvaluan officials swear allegiance to Hatch.
Mrs. Ridley is arrested, since the Elgen plant drugs and Taylor's blood in her car as she crosses the border. Mr. Ridley talks to her and doesn't understand; his superior officer advises him to take time off, but it comes to light that he is being paid off by the Elgen to keep Mrs. Ridley in jail. He comes back to find Taylor, Gervaso, Michael, Ian and others in his house. They explain the situation to him, and after Michael shocks him to prevent him from doing something stupid, he agrees to help by posting Mrs. Ridley's bail. They leave the jail and stage an explosion that makes the Elgen-loyal police force think the Ridleys are dead.
Hatch discovers Quentin's and Tara's treachery and locks Quentin in Cell 25, preparing to put him in the monkey cage as well. The Electroclan hears of this and develops a plan after spending several peaceful weeks at the new ranch. At the very end, Chairman Schema is taken by a shadowy organization with a powerful, bubbly teenager named Cassy, and he comes face to face with its leader, someone he recognizes.
