Sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or her home in rural North Carolina after her mother dies. The residential program for high schoolers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is the perfect escape, until Bree sees a demon attack the night before school starts. A teenage mage who calls himself a "Merlin" tries to wipe her memory of the attack, but fails and Bree manages to stumble upon a society of "Legendborn" students descended from King Arthur and his knights who hunt the demons. As Bree dives deeper into the society, her own memories and magical abilities are unlocked. Her reluctant partnership with Nick, a Legendborn with his own grudge, allows her to discover the dark secrets behind the society.