A climate scientist fears her daughter's political activities will land her in jail, but interference in science draws them into a partnership and the roles are reversed.
Fuming over sea level rise the President threatens the CalSea satellite mission that California funded after cuts to NASA. Thousand die from a botched forecast of a New Orleans hurricane, the result of an apparent sudden drop in ocean heat content. Professor Connie Jensen from Seattle suspects sabotage of sea level data caused the error. To deflect blame for fatalities, the President threatens scientists. In response the West Coast states and British Columbia threaten secession to create the new country of Pacifica. Despite her close call with prison in the 1970s, Connie reluctantly joins daughter Leigh, a network security engineer, the lead scientist and engineer from CalSea, and biologist Olivia in the Insurgency, a secret group of scientist activists. They pinpoint the source of the sabotage and implicate oil companies. Using Leigh's cyber skills they design a fix that requires data encryption. Connie and her student Abdullah must carry the decryption codes to Vancouver as another hurricane heads to Miami. Political intrigue and strong female leads in a fictional story that incorporates the real science of sea level rise, global warming and strengthening hurricanes.—Kathie Kelly
The President of the U.S. fumes over press coverage of the rise in sea level that threatens the value of coastal real estate and businesses. He pressures his aide for an explanation of why canceling the climate satellites hasn't made stopped the headlines. The problem is that the governor of California has launched her own satellite, CalSea, to monitor sea level. "Fix this!" he orders the aide.
A few months later a major hurricane hits New Orleans. Thousands of people die because the hurricane intensity is underestimated. Forecasts by U.S. agencies have been abysmal for years following budget. However, even the forecast by the lauded Vancouver Forecast Centre (VFC) was wrong. The weak forecast intensity is linked to a sudden drop in ocean heat content. This drop perplexes Connie, a University Professor who works with sea level data making the heat potential maps used in VFC predictions.
Connie and daughter Leigh have a strained relationship. Leigh, a network security engineer at the mega tech company Joule, is recovering from a breakup with her female partner and her father, Brian, commiserates. Connie, along with her graduate student Abdullah, is baffled by the forecast failure and is incensed as the VFC blames them. Flashbacks of quasi-military training and police raids reveal that Connie still feels the trauma of her youthful political actions in the 1970s, which apparently also involved the head of the VFC.
Has CalSea been sabotaged? Lead Scientist Terrell and Project Engineer Chris examine CalSea data and find irregularities in the Gulf of Mexico data. Meanwhile, biologists Olivia and Marian discover a suspicious station, protected by an armed guard, near the Gulf of Mexico. They overhear a conversation suggesting tampering with a "California satellite." Reports of this finding reach Leigh and Terrell through the Insurgency, a secret group of scientist activists.
To deflect the blame for hurricane fatalities, the President threatens to arrest any U.S. scientists working with the VFC or other foreign groups. In response, the governors of California, Washington, Oregon and the Premier of British Columbia conduct referendums to consider secession and the formation of the new country of Pacifica.
The need for multiple radar sources to effectively sabotage CalSea leads the group to suspect a link to oil drilling platforms in the Gulf, controlled from within the suspicious station. Leigh and Terrell devise a method to derail the sabotage that will not be detected by the operators. Leigh will need to physically enter the station to install software to insert a timing delay. Leigh, Connie and Terrell join fellow Insurgency member Olivia in New Orleans to carry out their plan. Their joint mission brings Connie and her daughter together, despite Connie's fears that Leigh is repeating her youthful mistakes.
Fortunately, the contract workers at the station are no match for Leigh's cyber skills and Olivia's subterfuge. In a nighttime break-in Leigh accesses the computer while Olivia draws the guard and operator outside. The fix appears to be working, but Leigh and Olivia need to monitor the station.
The sea level data now needs be encrypted to avoid detection by the saboteurs.Terrell proposes that the decryption codes be hand-carried to Vancouver to avoid cyber interception. Connie reluctantly prepares to fly to Vancouver with Terrell, taking a direct flight as tensions between the West Coast and the rest of the US are rising. At a rally to announce the approval of the referendums on Pacifica an attempt is made to assassinate the California governor.
When Connie and Terrell fail to arrive in Vancouver, Leigh finds that an apparent medical emergency forced the plane to land in Minneapolis, but the emergency was faked. No arrests were made, so Leigh suspects they were secretly detained. Leigh and Olivia rush to Minneapolis.
Who is running the detention center and where is it? Leigh and her contacts hack into government computer systems. Brian and Abdullah discover multiple abandoned buildings in Fort Snelling, immediately adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Leigh finds the cyber fingerprint of a black site and Olivia finds unusual activity in a particular building. The Insurgency sends Luis, a member with special forces training, and a rescue mission is planned. After getting word that former lover Connie has been imprisoned, the head of the VFC, Dr. Kim, rushes to Minneapolis to assist.
Connie is instrumental in the breakout from the inside, using some remembered karate skills from her Berkeley days. Other scientists who have also been held at the site are rescued along with Connie and Terrell. Luis sustains a bullet wound as he protects the evacuation and is missing.
Angered by the successful secession referendums the President threatens to delay the upcoming Presidential election. He calls out the National Guard, but West Coast guards mobilize to defend their own states instead and several nearby states decline to call out their forces. Arizona and Texas mobilize their guards, as the ACLU makes an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to stop the mobilization.
Another hurricane approaches the U.S., this time aimed at Florida. Dr. Kim facilitates the travel of Connie and Terrell through Canada with fake passports. They arrive in time to correct the forecast of the impending hurricane. Olivia heads to Florida to make sure the corrected forecast gets to the U.S. Hurricane Center. When Marian fails to deliver the new forecast, Olivia suspects her of leaking the flight details for Connie and Terrell. Olivia delivers a duplicate forecast herself. The President threatens anyone who responds to the VFC forecast, but the Florida governor issues a mandatory evacuation, saving many lives as the second hurricane slams into Miami.
In Vancouver Dr. Kim attempts to rekindle the relationship with Connie, who is tempted, but ultimately rebuffs his efforts and decides instead to mend her relationship with her husband.
The President is suspected of involvement in the sabotage effort and the assassination attempt. However, a foreign spy delivers a dossier to an Insurgency member that implicates a Russian agency fomented political discord by encouraging both secession and the backlash to further destabilize the U.S. government.
Scientists are lauded for efforts to save lives in the Miami hurricane. The Supreme Court declares the use of the Guard unconstitutional because referendums were acts of protected political speech that the Pacifica proponents did not enforce with violence. Further they declare an election delay unwarranted. Connie and Leigh return to Seattle amid speculation that the Governor of California may run for President.
