"when the magic ends" follows augustus blackwood, a shy accountant who secretly practices magic. in 1925, he meets evelyn crane at a failed audition in portland. together, they create a spectacular magic act that takes them from small theaters to the biggest stages in america and europe, falling in love along the way.twenty-two years later, augustus is homeless and broken. after abandoning his career to care for his dying wife evelyn and losing her in 1938, he vanished from public life, believing his magic died with her. everything changes when the hartwell family finds him in a doorway during a rainstorm and takes him in. their eight-year-old daughter lucy becomes fascinated by this mysterious stranger and his old magic supplies. through lucy's curiosity and wonder, augustus begins to rediscover the gifts he thought he'd lost forever.