Nataniel Gard of the Ice People was the seventh son of a seventh son and had been chosen to lead the final battle against Tengel the Evil. But he was not yet ready for that great task; he first needed to develop his skills on other challenging assignments. Ellen Knutsen had endured some frightening and mysterious experiences, and she was something of a mystery. It turned out that the two had more in common than Nataniel could have imagined when they first met.