On the fictional island of Patusan-and much to the ire of the Patusan natives-the Korean conglomerate LK is constructing an elevator into Earth's orbit, gradually turning this one-time tropical resort town into a teeming travel hub: a gateway to and from our planet. Up in space, holding the elevator's "spider cable" taut, is a mass of space junk known as the counterweight. And stashed within that junk is a trove of crucial data: a memory fragment left by LK's former CEO, the control of which will determine the company's-and humanity's-future. Racing up the elevator to retrieve the data is a host of rival forces: Mac, the novel's narrator and LK's chief of External Affairs, increasingly disillusioned with his employer; the everyman Choi Gangwu; the former CEO's brilliant niece and power-hungry son; and Rex Tamaki, a violent officer in LK's Security Division.