A baby is born with a coin in her hand. An orphan crafts a mysterious wooden object. The CEO of a large corporation finds himself under extraordinary pressure at work and at home. And on a remote hilltop on a Caribbean island, a medicine man seems to understand the meaning of all these events and to hold the key to the future.

Neglected by her parents, 19-year-old Maya Nidal has grown up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandparents. When her grandfather dies of cancer, Maya turns to drugs, alcohol and petty crime. Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile. Here Maya tries to make sense of the past, unravels mysterious truths about life and about her family, and embarks on her greatest adventure: the journey into her own soul.

At 30, American photojournalist Serena Stone has already made a name for herself with her unique and dramatic coverage of wars in the Middle East, following in her famous father's footsteps. But after his unexpected death in France, she ends her job at the renowned photo news agency. When Serena discovers that her former lover Zachary North is in trouble overseas, she is forced to head back to a place she was trying to escape... and her life will never be the same again.

In 18th-century Paris, Jacob Cerf is a Jew, a peddler of knives, saltcellars and snuffboxes. Despite a disastrous teenage marriage, he is determined to raise himself up in life. More than 200 years later, Jacob is amazed to find himself reincarnated as a fly in the Long Island suburbs of 21st-century America. Thanks to his arrival, the lives of a reliable volunteer fireman and a young Orthodox Jewish woman nursing a secret ambition will never be the same.

For Rebecca Dana, Truman Capote and Nora Ephron were her gods and New York City was her Jerusalem. After graduating from college, she moves to New York and all of her dreams come true. However, when they come crashing down around her, she finds herself living in Brooklyn's Lubavitch community with Cosmo, a 30-year-old Russian rabbi who practices jujitsu on the side. Both disenchanted with their religions, they go searching for meaning.

When a deadly supercolony of ants begins a series of gruesome attacks on New York City, the desperate mayor turns to the greatest ant expert in the world, Paul O'Keefe, who then calls on his ex-wife Kendra Hart, an entomologist studying fire ants in the New Mexico desert, for help. When the ants launch an all-out attack, Paul and Kendra hit the streets of New York to search for the coveted queen and unlock the secrets of an indestructible new species before the president nukes Manhattan.

At age 12, Julia Pandl was initiated into the rite of the Sunday brunch while working at her father's Milwaukee-based restaurant with her eight older siblings. There she learned the ropes of the family business as well as life lessons that would shape her for all the years to come. Her time working at the restaurant was not just a time of growing up, but ultimately of becoming a source of strength and support as the world her father knew began to change into a tougher, less welcoming place.

Fourteen-year-old Peter and his two siblings live on the fictional island of Finø, where people of all religious faiths coexist peacefully. Yet nothing is at it seems. When their eccentric and profoundly devout mother and father suddenly disappear, they must question whether their parents' relentless quest to boost church attendance has put them in danger.

In the present day: As three strangers attempt to navigate the chaos cast upon civilization by a U.S. government experiment gone wrong, their destinies intertwine. A hundred years in the future: Amy, Peter, Alicia and the others introduced in THE PASSAGE hunt the original 12 virals, unaware that the rules of the game have changed and that one of them will have to sacrifice everything to bring the Twelve down.

Yael, Avishag and Lea grow up together in a tiny, dusty Israeli village, attending a high school made up of caravan classrooms, passing notes to each other to alleviate the universal boredom of teenage life. When they are conscripted into the army, their lives change in unpredictable ways, influencing the women they become and the friendship that they struggle to sustain.