Ricardo 'Rick' Reyes, an ageing, unhealthy 3rd generation English-Spaniard estranged from family, and alone for a long time, one day comes across news of a new startup developing nanotechnology for medicine. He contacts them om a whim, invests in their company, and puts his name forward. He eventually hears back and is invited to trials. As part of the process, he was subjected to physical and mental tests, including cryosleep to test nanite effectiveness in near-absolute-zero temperatures.

He wakes up an untold amount of time later, to find everything had changed. The world around him had become something else. Society had collapsed, the world was rebuilding, and a number of nanite-induced changes have taken place among all life on the planet.

Now, Rick must rediscover himself in this new world, find his purpose, and hopefully find and meet with others like him from the old world.