Muriel is a modern wizard. She has the ability to change things with a wave or a hand or a thought. The thing is having this power is full of responsibilities. Every interaction involves this internal struggle of ethics. She believes everyone has the right to free will, conquering their own troubles and that struggle is sometimes necessary. She also knows if she has the power to change something and she does nothing, she is part of the problem. She is currently a criminal on probation, for making an ethical mistake with the goal of being helpful that caused an international incident. Her job is to recruit vampires for the military division of the American magic legal/policing agency called, "The Collective." She runs into a lot of the same ethical dilemmas she did as a private citizen but ponders how the blanket of being a government agent covers up her mistakes, and how they capitalize on her illegal skills. The book covers her struggles and her forays into being helpful that backfire in grand ways. Between the responsibilities to her job and to her own needs are the needs of her family. Her adventures stretch the gambit of recruiting vampires, combating pollution, babysitting and dating to get her family to leave her alone.