At fourteen, he lost his father. At sixteen, he drowned in vengeance. And at eighteen, Cal Gray's life turned on its head with the appearance of a mysterious professor. Born in the country of Wyze, eighteen-year-old Cal Gray, distant and reserved in nature, lives a mundane life in the farming village of Markstead: tending to crops, running errands for his mother, and leading the town's militia. However, things change when Julius Airetore intrudes on Cal's life, his knowledge and enigmatic disposition leaving Cal confused and seeking unsolved conflicts. Running from a troubled past and those who wish to help him, Cal must find acceptance in himself and those around him as he confronts problems unlike any he ever has before.