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Bell lives in a city that resides in a desert, shaped like an arena and designed aesthetically in white (white clothes, buildings, etc). In this world, the water sources in the poorer areas have bacteria within them that are able to live within the human body. This property is called Dust, and it turns the area where it can be found pure white. This could be patches of skin, within bone, in hair, and even within the irises of eyeballs. Dust can be used in alchemy, which is why it is in such high demand.
This bacteria, unfortunately, is highly explosive when set alight, and is also a very powerful energy source. For this reason, the city has created a troop that is trained to remove, or 'cleanse' the affected citizens of Dust. These officers are referred to as the 'Dusters' by locals.
After Bell witnesses the first cleansing early in her life, she feels a closer bond with her only friend, Locket. Locket's skin is pale in areas all across her body, signifying the Dust living in her body. The two are incredibly close, and they spend a lot of time together in the beginning.
One day, however, Locket is discovered by the Dusters after the two share the Solstice's celebrations together, and her home is set alight. Bell only discovers when she hears the explosion resulting from the fire's connection with Locket's skin.
Years later, a law was made to bring all those living in the outskirts to evacuate to the main city. The government told the people that it was to protect the people from outside entities, though those entities were never named, and people believe that the law was a way for the government to get all the people with Dust within them into a reasonable distance.
Bell manages to avoid all of these purges of the Dust through pretending she was blind, but soon she was planning a rebellion with some closer friends. These friends were met through walking in the underground cities, where most of the people who came to the city under the new law were made to live. Many of these friends were simply acquaintances, but a few were close, and all were affected by the Dust.
One day the government was told by a spy of their whereabouts and plans, and they sent down Dusters to purge those who had Dust within them. This is where Bell loses her eyes, and she witnesses many of her close friends being killed in order to be skinned or bled dry on the spot. Whistle, who was not close with her at the time, had her head shaved.
Instead of cursing Whistle for her fortune in only having Dust in her hair like everyone else, Bell befriended her and brought her into her group, which had now dwindled to very few. One among them was Quill, the distant cousin of the late Locket. The three of them soon become close, and Whistle starts to nurture feelings for Bell.
Years later, their plan to start a revolution is ready to be put into action. The three have become the leaders of a swelling rebellion underneath the city. They launch their attack on the government building, and despite their progress, bodies are falling. During the battle, Bell witnesses a Duster rip open Quill's chest. She runs to his dying body, and he tells her that she must take whatever she can find that is infected with dust, so no enemy can take it instead. She finds his heart, white with Dust, and calls for Whistle to follow.
The two enter the belly of the government building and set fire to Quill's heart. They put the heart in the lobby of the building, before escaping outside. When they manage to leave the building, Bell orders that the rebellion throw fire at the building and soon the building catches fire. As the flames make contact with Quill's heart, it errupts into a huge explosion, the fumes triggering the energy supplies in the building's pipes. The explosion spells the end of the reign of the cruel government, but now there will be chaos.
