Adolescence is a time of many physical and emotional changes, but the one change that does not happen is the one that affects Chandra Lovett's life. Raised by well-meaning werewolves in a town full of shapeshifters, everyone expected Chandra to celebrate her sixteenth birthday by making her first transition into her wolf form. The party ends when Chandra is left standing, unchanged and still human. When the people closest to her don't appear to be surprised by her failure to shift, Chandra decides it's time to get some answers about her real parents and why no one has ever told her the circumstances of their deaths. One person who knows more than he will admit is Maxim, Chandra's intended, who seems more than a little relieved that this outcome keeps him from being pledged to her for life. He has his own reasons for pointing Chandra in the direction of the truth, but there are others who are not as open to exposing the secrets of the past. One is more than willing to make Chandra pay the ultimate price for not being one of the pack. Chandra and Maxim must race to find the answers before it's too late.