Aspiring artist Abby decides that in order to give her art "more heart" she will complete a list of tasks over the summer, ranging from facing a fear to falling in love, but she soon finds the list more difficult than she imagined.

Riley, an orphan boy living in Victorian London, has achieved his dream of becoming a renowned magician, the Great Savano. He owes much of his success to Chevie, a seventeen-year-old FBI agent who traveled from the future in a time pod and helped him defeat his murderous master, Albert Garrick. But it is difficult for Riley to enjoy his new life, for he has always believed in his heart of hearts that Garrick will someday, somehow, return to seek vengeance....