[1] 16-year-old Alison Fairweather and her family are living in a not-so-distant future when they are taken from their homes and forced to stay in a penal colony, Habitat W, for five years because of a crime against WOGPO, the World Government.

[2] Within a month, Gordie Fairweather, Alison's 8-year-old brother, starts having dreams about "Xanadu", a paradise he believes existed behind the walls of their prison.

Kristin and Alison find that Jay was the one calling the children to go to Xanadu, and for each child he named the paradise differently.

Jay catches Kristin and Alison, but still lets them stay in Xanadu, both as regular inhabitants.

As soon as everyone in Xanadu learns to become a real community, Jay leaves to tell WOGPO that everyone in the prison has died.