Sixteen-year-old Graysea Wealer's life changed in ways the female Spirit Projector couldn't predict; her male counterpart fled without her and the Overseers bestowed upon her new tasks and responsibilities - ones that no longer included projecting her spirit back in time. When her beloved six-year-old brother's health mysteriously deteriorates, Graysea realizes that in order to save him she must make the male Spirit Projector fall in love with her. If she can't, then her brother will perish and she will become the next Usurper. While Graysea trains in the ways of her Alora Valley elders (learning about the four Cornerstones, the magic of nature's energy, and significance of auras) she must also deal with an overbearing mother, a white-tailed deer/Guide who speaks but doesn't always listen, and a recently-returned ex who broke her heart. Along her journey, she encounters ancestral spirits to help learn that sometimes looking back is necessary to move forward.