The game takes place during the year 2027, 25 years before Deus Ex. Nanotechnological augmentations have yet to be developed and biomechanical augmentations are the current state of the art. The main character, Adam Jensen, is a private security officer with a company that specializes in these augmentations. After he witnesses a chilling attack on his company, which leaves him horribly injured and forced to undergo augmentation to survive, "the conspiracy begins."
Source: Wikipedia, "Deus Ex: Human Revolution", available under the CC-BY-SA License.