Bernard Crowley and his sister Inch are ordinary, elderly magicians, barely making ends meet, especially since the Northern Church began to declare so many different types of magic to be heretical. Their friend Closer is even worse off. The price of magic materials keeps going up, and the poor man can hardly keep his magical wheelchair in operation. Their Destinies are changed one Midwinter when they experiment with various charms, a mirror, and a book called Giddens of Happenstance. A Kildareen wizard called Lucy Wilde begins to pursue the artifact they have inadvertently created, and even more mysterious forces work to change the shape of their whole lives. Will they be able to prevent their discovery from falling into the wrong hands?