In 1939 Sweden, two Jewish sisters wait for their parents to join them in fleeing the Nazis in Austria, but while eight-year-old Nellie settles in quickly, twelve-year-old Stephie feels stranded at the end of the world, with a foster mother who is as cold and unforgiving as the island on which they live.

Very strange occurrences have long surrounded fourteen-year-old Bran, who learns of his link to a curse created by his murdered mother and strives to make things right, hindered by the ban on magic in the city of Dunce and pursued by his mother's former masters.