After being captured and surgically transformed into a "special," teenaged Tally Youngblood, now a government agent programmed to protect society from outside threats, is ordered to eliminate the rebel colony New Smoke, Tally's former home.

After befriending the Crims, a group of fellow teens who refuse to take anything in society at face value, Shay starts to question the whole concept of being transformed from an ordinary "Ugly" into a paragon of beauty. And as the Crims explore beyond the monitored borders of Uglyville into the forbidden, Shay must choose between the perks of being Pretty and the rewards of being real.