The year is 1916. Shortly after midnight a boat emerges from the mist. A man is being chased through the heart of Calcutta. His life is in danger but he harbours a secret - beneath his coat are two newborn babies he must save at all costs. On the eve of his sixteenth birthday, Ben and his group of friends are preparing to leave St Patrick's orphanage where they have grown up. They have formed a secret club, The Chowbar Society, that meets each week in an old ruin they have christened The Midnight Palace. But just as they are about to leave, an old woman appears. She introduces Ben to Sheere, the sister from whom he was separated at birth. Now the woman must tell them of their past - of an accident, a ghostly railway station, a bird of fire, and the curse that threatens to hunt them down.