The world of 2011 was very different than the world we know today. Today, in 2063, the world was a disaster. The ground was crawling with disease, the air intoxicated with toxins. If a person wanted to even step outside their house, they had to be disinfected for five minutes and only stay outside for an hour, at the most.
There was no such thing as happiness in the world. A person is born, grows up just getting by, finds a job, finds a mate, has a minimum of 2 children, passes on their belongings, and dies. There's no room for enjoyment or happiness in a lifetime.
Once and a while, there were the kids that found what they love is the job they've been assigned. Those were the lucky ones. They got to coast thorough life as close to happy as possible. Not necessarily happy, but close.
The ones with the horrible jobs were the ones that suffered. They went through life not wanting to get up in the morning and praying for death to come quickly.
Most of the teenagers were assigned an afterschool activity based on the STOP. The STOP was the Standardized Test of Placement. It tested teenagers when they are children about each skill one could possess.
Good dancers were assigned dance at Miss Henley's Studio. Singers were assigned choir at Mrs. Gregg's room. Very few were good piano players. Those that were piano players were immediately taken out of school, moved into Madame Claire's home, and were forced to play piano six hours every day.
This is where we meet our star-crossed lovers, Jeff Sterling and Nick Duval.