The story of a young American journalist —hardened after a lover’s betrayal—who elects to become an AI-driven propagandist (aka Reverse Journalist) for China, the 22nd century's dominant global power. Naomi’s mission isn't to report current events. She extracts the "Truth of Probable Outcomes"—the most likely political and social scenarios from a Database of Crowds—and then the future happens exactly as she predicts.

Driven by voices she hears in her Logoharp, a neural receptor and translator that doubles the size of her brain, Naomi listens, speaks and broadcasts "music to the masses," ensuring citizen compliance. But she also detects strange, dissonant voices from sources she can't identify. In frozen Manchuria, Naomi discovers a terrifying State secret. Now she must decide whether to obey the Synaptic Armies invading her mind—or a human conscience that loves and defies reason.