The story is set in a futuristic new Beijing, where the various countries have re-organized to form various new empires and alliances and the moon has been colonized. The protagonist, Linh Cinder is a cyborg that operates a small mechanic’s stall at a local street market in New Beijing, and lives under the guardianship of her stepmother. Early in the book, she meets Prince Kai who requests her to fix a personal android. Cinder’s stepsister falls sick with a plague after accompanying Cinder to a junkyard to collect spare parts for a repair. In anger, Cinder’s stepmother “volunteers” Cinder for plague research. When Cinder is injected with the plague, she shows an immunity to it. Dr Erland, the plague researcher, starts to do research on Cinder’s immunity, which leads to research on Cinder’s unique physiology, her cyborg implants, and eventually to Cinder’s life prior to becoming a cyborg at the age of 11, of which Cinder has no memory.