The year is 2006, and a young college sophomore named Jenna Solitaire is going through her grandfather's belongings after his death. Hidden away in the attic of his sprawling house, which was bequeathed to her in his will, Jenna finds a very old journal that is written in a language she cannot read. The strange letters swim before her eyes, then clear and translate themselves into English, and that is when she begins to learn about her unique family history. For Jenna is the Guardian of the nine Boards of Babylon, collectively known as "The Boards of Chaos." And she has found the Board of Air in an antique trunk hidden away in her grandfather's attic. Fascinated, she picks up the board, and it awakens the others. The Guardian has returned.