Plot summary

In an undetermined future, society has divided into two sub-types: upper-class or "Uppers", and the rest of the world, mid- and lower-class, named "Lowers". Uma is a privileged young woman who is adamantly against marrying another Upper, Son. Instead, she falls in love with a working-class young man named Markus, so she is sent to Paradise Hills, a school for young ladies located on a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Waking up in Paradise not knowing how she arrived there, she soon meets other students: Amarna, a pop-star who was sent after she decided to sing her own songs against the will of the company that controls her records; Chloe, a plus-sized young lady whose parents want turned thin and compliant; and Yu, a Lower whose aunt and uncle sent her there after she refused to inherit the family business. Then Uma meets the eccentric Duchess, Paradise Hills' headmistress, who tries to convince Uma to marry up, like her mother wishes. Uma soon suspects a hidden purpose behind all the facility's luxuries. Its elegant staging and the daily sessions of make-up, hairdressing, etiquette, and therapy are not working on any of her classmates either. While Amarna and Uma concoct a plan to escape, Uma is shocked when Markus appears as part of Paradise Hills' staff. Amarna, who had started feeling attracted to Uma, feels bitter about this. Finally, alerted by Amarna about their dinners being laced with a sleep-inducing substance, Uma manages to investigate Paradise Hills at night and discovers the bone-chilling truth: the island is a giant control room to analyze the students' behavior and appearance so they can be replicated by Lower women hired to replace the Uppers after the original women are killed. With time running against her, Uma and the rest of her girl gang must find a way to survive before they are up next.

In an undetermined future, society has divided into two sub-types: upper-class or "Uppers", and the rest of the world, mid- and lower-class, named "Lowers". Uma is a privileged young woman who is adamantly against marrying another Upper, Son. Instead, she falls in love with a working-class young man named Markus, so she is sent to Paradise Hills, a school for young ladies located on a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Waking up in Paradise not knowing how she arrived there, she soon meets other students: Amarna, a pop-star who was sent after she decided to sing her own songs against the will of the company that controls her records; Chloe, a plus-sized young lady whose parents want turned thin and compliant; and Yu, a Lower whose aunt and uncle sent her there after she refused to inherit the family business. Then Uma meets the eccentric Duchess, Paradise Hills' headmistress, who tries to convince Uma to marry up, like her mother wishes. Uma soon suspects a hidden purpose behind all the facility's luxuries. Its elegant staging and the daily sessions of make-up, hairdressing, etiquette, and therapy are not working on any of her classmates either. While Amarna and Uma concoct a plan to escape, Uma is shocked when Markus appears as part of Paradise Hills' staff. Amarna, who had started feeling attracted to Uma, feels bitter about this. Finally, alerted by Amarna about their dinners being laced with a sleep-inducing substance, Uma manages to investigate Paradise Hills at night and discovers the bone-chilling truth: the island is a giant control room to analyze the students' behavior and appearance so they can be replicated by Lower women hired to replace the Uppers after the original women are killed. With time running against her, Uma and the rest of her girl gang must find a way to survive before they are up next.

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