Ash's silvery purple hair sets her apart from her peers. At Spires magic college the senior maeven consider her magic to be alien and unsuccessfully try to expel her. Ash feels a compulsive attraction to the broken North Spire. She believes this off-limit ruin holds the answer to her origins.

Orm, Ash's equally talented classmate, is determined to support the girl he considers his soulmate and promises to help her discover the secrets of the North Spire.

At the end of the first year, Ash nervously waits to see if she can continue her studies, or will her alien magic mean expulsion from Spires and the end of her dreams to discover her past?