Georgia O'Grady is a girl who is frequently bullied by her stepbrother, Russell. Her only escape is to go horse riding. When she falls asleep holding a miniature winged horse figurine, she wakes up in a stable in Talia in the city of Remora (Renaissance Siena), a city divided in twelve sections for each of the signs of the western zodiac. Here, she meets the Montalbani family, which includes the Horsemaster Paolo and his son Cesare. Paolo, like Rodolfo, is a Stravagante and reveals to Georgia (who is mistaken initially for a boy and retains this as a disguise throughout the book, her name is Giorgio) that she has come at a very important time: a horse race known as the Stellata is about to take place. The Twelfth of the Ram, which holds ties to the city of Bellezza and is the twelfth of the Montalbanis, has not won the race in twenty-five years. The Twelfth place their hopes in the birth of a special horse in the Twelfth of the Ram, one that may actually bring about the luck the twelfth needs to break their losing streak.