High school junior Nick "Tinman" Stannous lives a comfortable, unexciting life in suburban Phoenix. But he gets the excitement he is seeking when an important political figure mysteriously dies at his school's science fair. The Tinman uses his mastery of elements to uncover one of the most bizarre murder plots in history as he goes on his investigation with his best friend Marcy Guzman, and beautiful yet tart-tongued new girl in town, Bella Mendoza.