The Black Shell is the story of an ordinary-seeming young woman named Abby. By day she teaches mathematics to university students. But lately, more and more, her mind is focused on a room in the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, Daniel. Slowly, Abby’s secret - a nest of humming computer equipment designed to test a complex hypothesis - is revealed, along with the roots of her current obsession regarding the experimental software named “The Black Shell.” Does Abby’s belief in her own invention matter more to her than her relationship with Daniel? What could have happened to set her on this path?