The book follows Rory Hennessy, a thirteen-year-old boy that gains the ability to see Mannahatta, a spirit city existing in parallel with Manhattan. A gift that a magician showed Rory. The city is full of legendary persons such as Babe Ruth and Alexander Hamilton, people who have remembered so much that they have been made into immortal gods in the process. Mannahatta is also home to the Munsees and papier-mache children, whom the gods rule over. When some of the Munsees are held captive in Central Park, Rory must find a way to free them.