Karou is a seemingly normal 17 year old art student living in Prague. Sure, her hair is bright blue, but you know how it is with artists. Yet, upon closer inspection, one might notice that the hair isn't dyed, but simply grows out of her head that way. And sure, she draws pictures of strange creatures (chimera) in her notebooks, but, again, she is an artist. But then we meet her, uh, family--a collection of of creatures who've raised her--and her monstrous and mysterious father who sends her on errands all over the world to collect teeth (often human) for him. To run her father's errands, she slips through doors hidden in alleyways that act as portals to other parts of the world and then one day, black, scorched hand-prints start showing up on these doors, marking them, identifying them. But why? Karou begins to find out when she comes across one of the winged strangers marking the doors, and he turns his fire colored eyes on her. Karou begins to uncover the truth about herself, her family, and the strange world beyond the doors she moves through. The truth she uncovers will unnerve her, forcing her to face the beauty and the horror that is her past. It's a fascinating ride through the two worlds that Karou exists in, with a mystery that keeps you turning the pages.