The A.R.C. begins at the Concordia Center in the heart of the Amazon, where a who’s who of global elites from business, finance, fashion, entertainment, technology, and online activism have gathered for the Global Reinvestment For Tomorrow Conference (GRFT), promising to solve the problem of climate change once and for all. Very little problem-solving occurs before the GRFTers are infected with a lethal, highly contagious virus, dubbed Amazonian Recombinant Cytoneuropathy (A.R.C.).

The A.R.C. virus has peculiar and unfortunate characteristics: it is wildly contagious but undetectable in its dormant phase; it is 100% lethal; and the kicker is … it’s activated by lying. This proves deeply problematic for a world drowning in an ocean of lies and misinformation. The GRFTers board their private jets and spread the virus worldwide. Chaos ensues.