It is only after Freya becomes engaged to the mysterious Bran (Branford) Gardiner (this character was renamed Dash in the TV series), and somehow becomes unwillingly infatuated with his brother Killian, that the Beauchamps seem to start breaking their curse, and slowly begin to cast magic once again.

It is through this everyday usage that they discover that a mysterious presence is at work within the town, making the women barren, unleashing a strange silvery substance into the waters and ruining the local wildlife.

The townspeople's ailments and the mysterious silver substance in the water eventually prompt Johanna to seek her estranged husband Norman (this character was renamed Viktor in the TV series) in New York, leaving her daughters alone to deal with a growing unrest in the town as a whole.

The family is eventually charged with various crimes involving an attack on a local couple as well as the disappearance of a young woman who was interning at the mayor's office.

The Beauchamps are cleared of all charges, the intern's disappearance and death being a result of the mayor's obsession with her and the attack on a local couple being the actions of Bran.

[5] Criticisms for the novel included a "clumsily executed resolution" and too much "arcane gobbledygook",[6] while praise for the novel centered around the mixture of mythologies "gel[ling] magnificently" and de la Cruz's depiction of the Beauchamp women.

[8] Filming for the pilot took place in Macon, Georgia, and Wilmington, North Carolina, with Julia Ormond starring as Joanna Beauchamp.