Girlie Delmundo is the greatest content moderator in the world. Despite the setbacks of financial crises, climate catastrophe and a global pandemic, she’s getting a promotion. Now, thanks to her parent company Paragon’s purchase of Fairground --- the world’s preeminent virtual reality content provider --- she’s on the way to becoming an elite VR moderator. Despite the isolation that virtual reality requires from colleagues, friends and family, the unbelievable perks of her new job mean she can solve a lot of her family's problems with money and mobility. But when she meets William Cheung, Playground’s wry, reticent co-founder (now Chief Product Officer), slowly unearths some of his secrets, and finds herself somehow falling in love, she’ll learn that history might be impossible to moderate and the future utterly impossible to control.

How many lives fit in a lifetime? When Hero De Vera arrives in America --- haunted by the political upheaval in the Philippines and disowned by her parents --- she's already on her third. Her uncle gives her a fresh start in the Bay Area, and he doesn't ask about her past. His younger wife knows enough about the might and secrecy of the De Vera family to keep her head down. But their daughter --- the first American-born daughter in the family --- can't resist asking Hero about her damaged hands.