Michael Kanekoa, a half-Hawaiian half-English boy of twelve winters, feels the ache of his father's absence. He calls out for closeness-a piece of granite answers. Its name is Rune. Beyond Michael's back garden the greying has appeared. Near Lake Windermere trees, birds, and even rocks are turning to ash. Michael and his mother join the biologist Misaki Morimoto and her daughter, Heather, to discover the cause. The answer finds them.