On the verge of retirement from his military career, Lt. Thomas F. Hobbes is taken away from his fiancee to test-drive a new virtual reality combat training program, the Harsh Realm. Once in, Hobbes discovers that getting out requires him to beat the current system champion, Santiago, with very little help.
While Hobbes contends with bounty hunters under Santiago's control, Sophie is told by a mysterious woman that her husband, and many like him, is not dead as she was told.
Sophie is lead to an abandoned military post where Inga Fossa enters the Harsh Realm. Florence is captued by Santiago's forces and is only freed when Hobbes is given her location and a key by Inga Fossa, who also presents him with a note from Sophie.
Hobbes and Pinnochio stumble upon a WWII simulation area of the Harsh Realm and fear they may have to ceaselessly continue this simulation like the American soldier they find there.
While Sophie takes care of the dying, real world version of Hobbe's mother, Hobbes and Pinocchio meet her virtual twin in a work camp they must escape from.
Hobbes and company are captured by three percenters, the ill-conceived virtual characters that resulted from the programmer's three percent error rate.
When Hobbes and Pinocchio walk heavily on a minefield, they are saved by the Sisters, the religious order Florence belongs to.
Hobbes and crew get caught in the crossfire between American Indians and Santiago in Cincinnati.
Hobbes and Pinocchio act as hired guns in a downtrodden futuristic version of New York City in the Harsh Realm.