Intellectually precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater escapes the boredom of daily life by re-reading a series of beloved fantasy novels set in an enchanted land called Fillory. Like everybody else, he assumes that magic isn't real -- until he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. But something is missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he thought it would. And his childhood dream is a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart.