Using a peculiar camera she found, Maxine Nutbeam photographs her cousin's life-sized horse sculpture and it comes to life. Coming from a long line of Nutbeams possessing erratic, careless magical abilities, Maxine encounters the camera's owner Dante, whose supernatural skills as a Time Mage surpass even Maxine's vivid imaginings. Rushed headlong into sorcery, danger and chaos, Maxine uncovers her mother's secret and the mystery of her own birth. She is having the time of her life, but time is running out.