Divorced, discouraged and drinking before lunch, Elizabeth Graham is ripe for a new job, a new city, and a new lover. She moves to Austin, a city straining to retain its carefree identity in the face of explosive growth and gentrification. Elizabeth's new boss, Juliet Andro, self-medicates in a geologically unstable cave using a chemical produced by a colony of blue salamanders. The chemical enables humans to transcend death, but the process exacts a shocking price.

After a mysterious tragedy forever alters Elizabeth's future, she uncovers clues that implicate Juliet, who is scheming to attain immortality by developing the chemical. Elizabeth teams up with a biologist, an Army captain, and a tech entrepreneur to challenge Juliet's gang in its urban greenbelt stronghold.