Robert Laing is a neurosurgeon who has just moved into the great Elysium Tower, in which the ideal society seems to exist. However, although he does not express it, he feels disturbed by the possibility that this utopian reality is, on the contrary, a dystopia.

He is a newcomer to the Elysium Tower, trying to deal with the recent passing of his sister. He lives on the 25th floor and is a friend of Richard Wilder and his wife Helen Wilder. He has a purely physical relationship with Charlotte Melville, his neighbor from the floor above, and he gets along well with her son Toby.

The Elysium Tower, which is located on the outskirts of London, has a capacity of just over a thousand people. Those on the upper floors are people with money, fame and power; those below are ordinary people. The building has everything: a gym, a supermarket, a swimming pool, and so on. In the first few days, everything seems normal, but little by little, the light starts to fade in the floors below, and as time goes by, everyone and everything turns into chaos.