When eighteen-year-old Bindy Ambrosius--a ward of the state from Ireland--finds herself shipped to Olympia, Washington, as a foreign exchange student for no apparent reason, she is more than a little bit lost. Aloof and with a thick accent, she feels like an outsider, placed with a wealthy family full of druggies and alcoholics. Bindy also secretly possesses magical powers, something that sets her apart from others even more.

One evening, she inadvertently encounters Mindy Pendragon, the most popular girl in school, and rescues her from a sticky situation, revealing her power in the...