Emma Bryant is alarmed by the growing darkness in her culture. When circumstances force her to move in with her grandpa, she finds an old diary that transports her into a time altogether different from her own. Emma quickly realizes that something conspicuously missing plagues the 21st century. She resolves to uncover what it is and how to obtain it. But the more she chases it, the more elusive it becomes until she discovers that it isn't meant to be acquired at all, only received.