Bùrdì and Síddèr, a fire couple from Fireland arrive at Element City, a large metropolis that houses people composed of the four basic elements: Water, Earth, Air, and Fire.
Upon arrival, the couple are given the names Bernie and Cinder Lumen. They try to look for a new home, but they are turned away due to their fiery appearances and abilities.
They eventually find an abandoned abode in Firetown and make it their home and café, calling it The Fireplace.
Bernie and Cinder have a daughter named Ember and raise her to help run the store for other fire people.
As time passes by, more fire people move to Firetown. Bernie immediately grows to dislike other elements, especially water people most of all, as he and Cinder face a lot of discrimination from water people when they first arrived in Element City.
Several years later, Ember is still working at the Fireplace, but Bernie does not trust her to run it just yet as she has a literal, fiery temper that makes it difficult for her to connect with other people.
Bernie hopes to give the store to Ember so that she can keep their legacy alive, something which is personified by a blue flame that is tied to their culture.
The only person outside of fire people that gives Ember the time of day is a young earth boy named Clod, who has an open crush on her, but she turns him down multiple times. Ember occasionally makes deliveries around town for Bernie as he has developed occasional coughs from tiring himself too much from running the Fireplace at his old age, while Cinder makes love fortunes for people by smelling the smoke from incense wicks they light and cannot get a love fortune from Ember, upsetting her.
One morning, Bernie decides to let Ember run the store while he is out for their "Red Dot Sale" and she excitedly accepts. The day turns out to be tough with Ember having to deal with inept customers. She runs down to the basement and lets out a fiery burst of energy that damages the pipes and causes water to flood the room.