Kortan sends forth his Hunters lead by Arak to confront the Dundees. Living among the Dundees is Quentin, who has lived his life as a Dundee. After Arak kills Quentin the Quickening restores him to life and his dying mother tells him he is a MacLeod and is the chosen Immortal to defeat Kortan. Quentin promises his mother to rescue the Dundees and follow his destiny. Ramirez then appears after waiting seven centuries to reveal the oath taken by himself and other Immortal such as Mangus to become Jettators. Now is the time for Ramirez to take Quentin into being his apprentice. But can Ramirez teach the young boy enough before he confronts Kortan for the first time?
Ramirez takes Quentin to meet Stevenson a once daring and powerful Jettator who built a dam before the Great Catastrophe that generates a special kind of energy called electricity. However, Stevenson is nowhere to be found as his mysterious ferryman continues to lead Quentin and Ramirez into a trap.
After encountering a burning water called oil, Ramirez and Quentin try to visit a Jettator named Errol who knows all the secrets of the Earth. They instead find a tortured and demented soul named Melvyn who thinks he is an Immortal. Making things worse Quentin's sister Clyde looks like Melvyn's daughter, whom he believed to have perished at the hands of Kortan's Hunters.
The Dundees are attacked by bandits with a terrible weapon used in a time before the Great Catastrophe. Ramirez learns it is a machine gun when he performs a magic called surgery upon a wounded Dundee. Quentin has gone with the Dundees in search of the bandits and the weapon. They find the bandits held up aboard the remains of an ancient aircraft carrier.
Quentin continues his training while questioning the history lesson attached to the ""Spanish Surprise"". Ramirez decides to take Quentin to see Lonsallez, the Jettator who has all of mankinds history. Finally after receiving the history quickening Quentin understands as Ramirez said, ""In order to know where he is going man needs to understand where he has been.""
The Dundees contract malaria while traveling through the marshlands. In order to save the Dundees, Ramirez takes Quentin to the sixth cliffs to meet Ilric, the Jettator who has the knowledge of medicine. With Ilric's quickening, Quentin extracts a cure to save the Dundees, but Hunters have found him.
Ramirez shows Quentin how the Great Catastohphe came to pass. In doing so, Quentin decides the horrible knowledge of nuclear weapons is something he can not bear and runs away. They then meet Promethus, the Jettator who guards the knowledge of atomic power, who's immortality has become a prison from the radiation. But Kortan has come for the quickening also. Finally Quentin relents and receives the quickening of atomic power.
Quentin journeys to meet Yashoda, the Jettator who holds the knowledge of the martial arts. When his vanity overcomes him, Quentin fails to pass Yashoda's test of readyness to receive his quickening. However, he promises a second chance after Quentin has gained the knowledge of all the remaining Genetors.
Kortan decides to challenge Quentin aboard a rusty ship in a desert. In the middle of the duel, Quentin temporarily experiences a huge disadvantage as he loses his eyesight. The fight becomes more arduous given Quentin's inability to see and Kortan's deceptive strategies. Each duelist is intent in winning this perilous battle