SoCal teenager Layla Bailey is used to fading into the background. Her only goals in life are indulge in her love of science, protect her brother, and avoid her unstable mother. When she has to create a biome for a school competition, she chooses her own home: an ecosystem of indoor fungi and toxins invading her life. Her project gets the attention of Child Protective Services, and suddenly Layla is in the spotlight, fighting to figure out how to stand behind the truth she has shown.

Budding novelist Orla Cadden is stuck writing clickbait about the lives of the rich and the famous. Then she meets Floss, a striving A-lister, who has a plan to launch them both into the spotlight. Even if there is danger involved, how could they and their followers be wrong? Thirty-five years later, a woman named Marlow discovers a dangerous truth about her past. With twelve million loyal followers watching her every move, she has to summon the courage to uncover the truth, no matter the costs.