When Jules Zwiegenbaum moved from the South of France to the United States, he knew culture shock would be a problem. He was half-American, so how bad could it be? As a high schooler who loved to surf, California might suit him nicely. He even starts making friends. But when the school bully challenges him to a fight-it reveals a hereditary condition that Jules didn't know his family carried. Apparently, the abnormality prompted his parents' whole career as medical researchers in genetics. This is the story of how one young man learned about the inherited curse that links him to a world he thought only existed in fairy tales and horror movies.