Imagine a world where all humans must hibernate through a brutally cold winter, their bodies dangerously close to death as they enter an ultra-low metabolic state of utterly dreamless sleep. All humans, that is, apart from the Winter Consuls, a group of officers who diligently watch over the vulnerable sleeping citizens - at some risk to their own healthWhen John Worthing, a Deputy Winter Consul, finds himself in the forgotten rural outpost of Sector Twelve in remote Wales, he hears of a conspiracy - a viral dream, causing paranoia, hallucination and a psychotic episode that can end in murder. Worthing himself has access to the drug which stops the sleeper dreaming, allowing him to use less precious body fat while sleeping and wake in a fitter state.
But when Worthing wakes in mid-Winter, he has been dreaming - a dream that should be impossible....
