Light is big business on Evig Natt, where it's always dark and fireflies are the only legal source of light. They’re also used for currency, leaving the impoverished to live in the shadows of the wealthy. Severum Rivenshear is hired by the government to stop the Kontractor, a woman speeding the planet's rotation to bring light to rich and poor alike, until his beliefs and life shatter while witnessing the abuses of power. Together, their journey will take them from space to cyberspace, from reality to virtual reality, as they save the last refuge of humanity. In a time of war, they must bring balance to the hemispheres, even if Severum must betray the very system he’s sworn to protect.

Inertia revolves around the connection between government factions, big corporations, and the environmental destruction they create for their own profits. A young geophysicist, Ash, finds herself at the nexus of all this as she infiltrates servers in virtual reality to discover the hidden connections, but with the Enforcers on her tail, she can't do it alone.

Sam Verner is a star researcher for Renraku Computer Systems at the corporate headquarters in Tokyo, but when his sister goblinizes into an Ork, he is transferred to the Seattle arcology in disgrace. His life takes another turn for the worse when the commuter flight from the airport is hijacked by shadowrunners (Sally Tsung, Ghost, Kham, Dodger). Sam's cooperation with the runners earns him the enmity of another passenger, security specialist Alice Crenshaw. When Sam discovers that the runners were manipulated into releasing a lethal virus inside the arcology, he is able to convince them to undo the damage. They insist he accompany them, however, and though they are successful, Sam is forced to shoot a security guard in self-defense. Though the runners advise against it, Sam decides to stay with Renraku.

In a near future where almost everyone on earth is connected to a worldwide net, Jasmine Reese discovers the existence of an intelligence called Gestalt-a self-aware entity generated by the collected consciousness of eight billion networked people. And only Jaz can stop it from controlling the world.

Schuyler, a sprinter, one who outruns government particle beam satellites to deliver computer chips to the European black market, becomes a media celebrity and the icon of a new religious cult.