In present-day London, twelve-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wake an enormous fire-breathing dragon from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn is responsible for warding off the dragons and keeping a small community alive as they struggle to maintain a meager existence. Then along comes hotshot American, Van Zan, who says he has a way to kill the dragons and save mankind--a way Quinn's never seen done.