Adopted Chloe King, on the eve of her 16th birthday, discovers she has what seem tantamount to superpowers. She asks her much loved single mother about her birth parents, but little is known other than that she is from the Ukraine.

Two kids at her school let her in on the secret of the Mai, an ancient race of half human/half gods who fell out of favor with the human race when they stopped wanting to take orders from humans.

Chloe is the Uniter - she was born with nine lives to live in an attempt to united both races again. No other of her race shares this same trait.

Without knowing it, Mai and humans cannot be intimate as it could result in paralysis or death. She has her first kiss on the eve of her 15th birthday and she later finds out he died due to her kiss. Chloe is devastated.

Chloe meets another boy she really likes, who turns out to be the son of the "Big Bad" Whitney Rezzer, who has made it his life's goal to kill the Uniter and destroy the Mai.