Fifteen-year-old Samson Ashburner has always felt like an outsider - even before the accident that left his face scarred and his confidence shattered. With the jeers and taunts of the local children ringing in his ears, Samson's only refuge is his ancestor's hut deep in the nearby woods. It is here that he encounters Angel Obscura, a gypsy girl who teachers Samson that not everybody takes him at face value. But Angel is not all that she seems, and Samson is soon drawn into a web of deceit and shady dealings with an explosive outcome.