Your character is a refugee of one of those war torn regions who managed to swing a sponsorship to this city. You can play as a previous player character (DA/SITA or AiP) who Ariane sponsors, or you can be a new character who won a sponsorship. Your character can be male or female. You move into a house with three women: Ariane, Rachel, and Maya. The object of the game is to get a good job and become friends with all three roommates, and if you are successful you can help negotiate a plan to keep the city-state stay alive a little longer.

The game opens up in a refugee holding area. It used to open up with long winded exposition text, until I decided 'showing' is better than telling. You deal with an immigration agent in a military uniform, and then the first people you meet are people that hate refugees. The first friendly person you meet is Rachel. Rachel gives you a tour of the house, then you meet Ariane, and depending on which origin you pick for your character, this is either a getting to know Ariane section, or a getting caught up section.

There is a key point where Ariane asks what you are interested in, which is a key choice in the paths you can take.