Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) has just moved to the small southern town of Gatlin, where the only person who seems to understand her--or dream of bigger places or ideas--is a cute guy named Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), who recognizes her instantly from the cryptic dreams he's been having every night. Lena has come to stay with her mysterious uncle, Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons), the patriarch of her powerful family: the Ravenwood clan are Casters, born with powers that ordinary mortals don't have, like the ability to move objects, control the elements, and even step out of normal space and time to communicate only with each other. But just as Lena feels ready to open up to Ethan, she discovers that their love is in imminent danger, because when female Casters turn 16, their destiny as either good or evil is revealed. Unwilling to let her nature be dictated by forces outside of her control, Lena and Ethan set out together to uncover the strange, secret lore of their families' intertwined histories dating back to the Civil War, and figure out how to grant Lena the power to choose her own destiny.