Cousins Sophie and Wil certainly have their hands full. Wil's old friend Mr. Bertram is blamed for the disappearance of a priceless manuscript and lands in jail, things are up in the air at Auntie Vi's Fortune-Telling with a new competitor next door, Sophie and Wil have exams to study for, Aunt Rue doesn't get the new job at the Secretariat after all, and their neighbour, Mrs. Oleander, falls deathly ill.
But that's not the half of it.
When they travel with their eccentric fortune-telling aunt on a prize trip to Iceland sponsored by Perfect Products (purveyors of Aunt Violet's beloved crystal ball), Wil and Sophie face danger and magic galdur. They are even not to give away too much captured by trolls and almost end up in the soup du jour!
Meanwhile, the Serpent's Chain, an ancient secret society, will stop at nothing to reclaim Wil's magical black medallion. Despite the danger to their own lives, Sophie and Wil struggle valiantly to learn more about the Chain, whose web of deceit, they discover, extends all the way to Iceland.