The premise of this book is that individuals are occasionally forced to participate in a ritual called The Gauntlet, where they try to escape a trained, biologically augmented assassin for a set number of days while being streamed live to an audience. One protagonist is chosen to be The Lamb, the assassin's target in The Gauntlet. A boy she knows forces a kiss on her just before The Gauntlet begins, and this causes her to recall other situations where boys touched her against her will. The other protagonist is the assassin, referred to as an Angel. She and other Angels receive cosmetic surgery against their will, with one character being given a breast augmentation. When Angels are decommissioned they are married off to high status men and not allowed to refuse. Their memories are also tampered with as a matter of course, which allows their handlers to gaslight and subdue them. The Angel and The Lamb, both teenage girls, fall in love at a point in The Gauntlet where they believe the streaming cameras are not present. They then feel very violated when it's revealed that the cameras were there all along, especially during intimate moments. They are exposed to sexually harassing comments from the public, as well as AI-edited images that show them in compromising positions.