Strangers have come to the village of Emond's Field, located in Two Rivers, during the Bel Tine holiday. With theses strangers come stories of the outside world: tales of war and of a man who claims to be the Dragon Reborn, the one prophesized to save the world, and also to destroy it in his madness. For it is known that no man can channel the One Power without going horribly insane.