 In 2025, population control is not a fantasy. It is a reality. Therefore, the law mandates that no child may be born and remain alive unless at the moment of birth or within sixty seconds thereafter there is space available in the region. At the moment Isabelle delivers her son, the counter reads "zero". In another room, a man lies desperately clinging to life with his grieving wife by his side. And only a death can make room for a birth.