Evan Michaels struggles with being different, with having the complete memories of two other people who lived sequentially before him. He fights loneliness and believes he is unique until he meets Poppy. She recognizes his struggle because she is like him, except that she is much older, remembering seven consecutive lives. But there is something else she must share with Evan -- she is a member of the secretive Cognomina. They are, in effect, immortals --- compiling experiences and skills over lifetimes into near superhuman abilities that they have used to drive history over centuries. Poppy invites Evan into the Cognomina, but he must face their tests before entering this mysterious society as their equal.