A sickly constitution has kept Anna May Jones confined to the house for most of her life. Hoping to improve her daughter's health, Anna's mother sends her to live with her Aunt Jinny, a witchy-woman and an Elemental Master, in a holler outside of Ducktown. As she settles into her new life, Anna learns new skills at Aunt Jinny's side and discovers that she, too, has a gift for Elemental magic that Jinny calls "the Glory". But with Anna's increasing power comes increasing notice. Billie McDaran, the foreman of the Ducktown mine, begins to take an interest in Anna and her abilities—even though Anna has already fallen in love with a young man with a talent for stonecarving. If she wants to preserve the life she has come to love, Anna must use her newfound powers to oppose the foreman and protect those around her.