After the outbreak of a virus that causes instant death, all of downtown Los Angeles is sealed in by an impenetrable wall, quarantining thousands of people inside "The Hothouse."Jason "Bruiser" Brusman is part detective, part Secret Service, part leg-breaker inside the powerful corporation that runs the Hothouse. With his family outside the walls, Bruiser's humanity hangs by a thread as he unravels the mysteries of this strange and violent city within a city.