Quentin Coldwater arrives at Brakebills University, a school dedicated to training Magicians. There, he and fellow students Alice, Penny, Margo and Eliot hone their skills, test their mettle and form new (and often times, problematic) relationships, all while facing a dangerous and deadly threat from a magical world. Meanwhile, Quentin's friend Julia - rejected from Brakebills - pursues magic on her own down a dark, often dangerous, path.