The day before Will Stanton's eleventh birthday, he notices strange omens on his family farm: a cryptic gift, a terrifying flock of birds, and a deep, cold fear that emerges from the darkness. When he wakes on his birthday--also Midwinter Day--Will has the life-changing revelation that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals who fight to keep the powers of evil, the Dark, from taking over the world.

Will gets immediately swept away by his new destiny as he sets off in search of six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Light and the Dark. But the Dark has dispatched its own agent in pursuit: the rider--evil cloaked in black, mounted on a midnight stallion. As evil looms ever closer, Will must find the Signs of wood, bronze, iron, water, fire, and stone before the Dark begins its dreadful rise.