- We meet Mibs (short for Mississippi) Beaumont and her family who develop special powers—a.k.a. savvies—on their thirteenth birthdays.
- The Beaumonts lived by the ocean until Mibs's older brother Fish found out his savvy involves water and the weather… and started a hurricane… at which point they packed up and moved to the edge of Nebraska and Kansas.
- The oldest Beaumont sibling, Rocket, can control electricity, Grandpa can make the earth shake, and Momma can just do everything perfectly. Poppa doesn't have a savvy on account of having married into the family.
- Mibs can barely contain her excitement about finding out what her savvy will be.
- But two days before Mibs's birthday tragedy strikes, and Poppa is rushed to the hospital after a terrible car accident. He won't wake up.