John Murray lives a quiet life with his grandparents in a tiny village on the edge of nowhere. He's a high school geek, a nerd, and an introvert, fascinated by knowledge, but they're all traits that earn him few friends in a world filled with noise, instant fame and fleeting trends. A magazine, a chance find in his local newsagent, transports John to a new world, as alien as another planet, but as fascinating as anything he's seen before, as he opens the pages to the Lords and Ladies, Saints and Sinners: The powerful in Japanese history. A freak accident and a convulsion in the world means John's eagerness to absorb new things is tested. He's forced to live the reality of medieval Japanese life, learn the ways of the samurai and battle mythical and supernatural beasts on his quest to find his family and save this alien world.