Tally has lived all her life in a post-apocalyptic world where the rite of passage experienced by 16-year-olds is an operation that completely resculpts your body to match the ideal of beauty. Once you have had your operation, you move across the river to live with all the others as a Pretty in New Pretty Town where you live a life of partying and pleasure. Only a few weeks before Tally's much anticipated 16th birthday, her friend Shay tells her about a secret group of individuals who ran away before they were given the operation. When Shay disappears before she can be turned into a Pretty, Tally discovers some horrifying secrets about the effects of the operation. Suddenly, the secret police are offering her a bargain: She must decide between life as a Pretty – at the cost of finding her friend and bringing her back – or never turn pretty at all.
