When a 15-year-old peasant boy named Eragon finds a mysterious blue stone, he thinks he might be able to sell it in order to buy food for his poor family. He is understandably surprised then, when the stone turns out to be a dragons egg from which a female dragon named Saphira soon hatches. Eragon then learns that he is a descendent of the Riders, a band of dragon-riding warriors believed to have been destroyed by the evil King Galbatroix. When a tragedy sends Eragon out on a quest to seek revenge, he learns that fate has different plans in store for him and Saphira. This, the first book in the Inheritance trilogy, was written when the home-schooled author was himself 15 years old.