In the small town of Gatlin, S.C., teenage Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) has his static world shaken by the arrival of Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), the niece of town patriarch Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons) . Ethan is immediately drawn to Lena, although destruction surrounds her, and she has supernatural powers that are beyond her control. Even worse, a curse looms for Lena as her 16th birthday approaches -- the time when the forces of either light or dark will claim her.