Tales of Grandier is a comic(?) series that takes place in a modern fantasy setting. The world is filled with multiple kingdoms as well as cities, making a very blended time period. Since magic and science are on equal standing when it comes to capabilities, some places choose to rely on either or both. The average person is likely to live in an area that relies more on science than magic. Although magic is more versatile than science, science is more stable and reliable. The average person also isn't fighting for themselves. Instead, they rely on saints and guardian angels. Saints are people whose worship of the gods have awarded them special abilities while guardian angels are saints that have chosen to fight for the side of "good." 

There are an absurd amount of deities in heaven, to the point it can be considered overcrowded. A lot of them have been assigned to jobs that overlap with each other. The major deities have the most control over their specific reign and often "take over" those lesser than them. For example, the god of flames might make the god of lava their servant, since fire is historically more important than lava. The amount of power a god has ties directly into how popular, or feared, they are by humans. This makes heaven a bit like a high school popularity contest. A lot of the stronger ones only care about themselves and their pride. However, not all of the gods are like this. There are three "primordial" gods who are no longer seen around. They are The Seamstress, Chronos, and Celeste. The first two still influence and control the world by creating souls and controlling time, respectfully. Celeste on the other hand faked her death and split off her tasks to the deities still in heaven.

At first, she planned on staying away from her original tasks forever. But the corruption in heaven annoyed her so badly, she wanted to return and punish the egotistical deities that had taken over. This is one of the overarching plots within the comic.

But this story doesn't actually follow the gods. Instead, it follows one "high school" student named Povi Shearhart. Povi comes from a royal lineage that has pledged allegiance to Zuivere, a goddess of healing. With the blood of her horn, the goddess prayed to heal anyone pure of heart. The Shearhart family pledged to do the same thing. However, for some reason, Zuivere never blessed Povi with this power. This makes Povi quite self-conscious, especially since she has given a "bodyguard." In order to prove that she wasn't useless to herself and her family, Povi pledges that she will become a guardian angel, with or without Zuivere's help. Of course, Povi's bodyguard isn't going to let Povi go on her journey alone. Lolly acts as both a little sister as well as a powerful ally. The little clown-like doll is capable of melting and warping people's bodies with the use of her giant lollypop. She rarely uses the ability, since there isn't a lot of danger in the city of Grandier. However, this starts to change when Povi and Lolly are sent to the New Grandier's Saint Correctional Facility.

They weren't aware of this at first, believing that they were being sent to the "Grandier's Saint Academy" instead. However, Povi is basically a disgrace to the Shearhart family and isn't worthy of such a prestigious school. So she's sent to a far more experimental school in an attempt to draw out power from her. She isn't the only student at this school, of course. Another student that appears often is "Iowa" Morada, a "knight" who seems quite adamant about ignoring the past. He acts as a main love interest for Povi, who would rather ignore Iowa. Povi is a bit selfish and would rather focus on her own goals. However, she finds that increasingly hard to do because of the bizarre situation she finds herself in. Throughout the series, she is exposed to increasingly strange and dubious people. Both the students and the staff at the Correctional Facility. There's also the constant feeling of being isolated from the outside world. Her family never messages her and the world seems oddly empty. Despite living in a far bigger city than her hometown was, even Povi can tell something's off. However, everyone at school at so preoccupied with themselves, they seem unaware of it.

Povi tries to ignore the weirdness of the facility and focus on herself. But that becomes nearly impossible with the introduction of Maxwell's plans. With Iowa's weird attachment to Povi, he "accidentally" slips that he has something against Maxwell. Povi doesn't think much of it, but she stays of Iowa's good side for the sake of protection. The two get along well, mostly, and often work together on missions. Their partnership was practically solidified in the "Muse District" arc. The students were taken on a field trip that was secretly an attempt to replace one of the recently deceased staff members. Indigo Morada seemingly dropped unconscious into a seizure and vomiting fit on the orientation day. It was chalked up to an experiment gone wrong, and Maxwell was left in charge of him. However, this isn't the full truth. He was actually poisoned for looking too deeply into the ideals of the Grandier Correctional Facility. Maxwell just took the opportunity to torture her coworker. The curse that was placed on him was forced to activate when he was on stage, causing him to violently breakdown in front of the students. 

However, the former poisons and curses teacher still had to be replaced. So, Maxwell and the other teachers were tasked with looking through the different acts to find someone who might be a decent fit. Meanwhile, the students went around and enjoyed all the performances and art within the Muse district. One that particularly stuck out was the witch popstar known as Jasmine. For reasons unknown, she was being hunted down by a "rival" band consisting of a rockstar couple, Beretta and Bnuey. Beretta specifically seems hellbent on killing Jasmine, while Bnuey is just along for the ride. However, Jasmine proves that she's more than capable of protecting herself by "accidently" killing Beretta with a curse. Maxwell sees through Jasmine's trick and recruits her to the Correctional Facility staff.

The students, on the other hand, get new weapons from the blacksmith clan that were demonstrating at the Muse District. Although, they demand that the children prove themselves before the custom weapons are made. Povi, Iowa, and Lolly work together on this task.

Even after Povi gets her twin pistols, she still works with Iowa. Lolly doesn't like Iowa with Povi at all, but it is mostly because of jealousy. But that doesn't stop Lolly from wanting to get revenge on Iowa, no matter how childish that might be. Lolly decides to confront Iowa, basically throwing a fit while telling Iowa to leave Povi alone. It doesn't really work, so Lolly goes to cry to her "older" siblings. These being Sweet Ann and Sketch. 

Soon after the death of Beretta, Povi getting her pistols and Iowa getting her hilt, Jasmine is introduced as a teacher. She's very into PDA, much to the annoyance of everyone, including her new partner. But in exchange for tolerating Jasmine's presence, Maxwell gets plenty of new information about mostly unknown locations, mainly The Eternal Carnival. The deal is pretty good for Jasmine, and the two get closer as a result. Close enough for Jasmine to learn about the experiments Maxwell has been running on both Iowa and what was left of Indigo. 

For Iowa, Maxwell had been using different methods to combine magic and science to give Iowa synthetic ice magic. The result is quite potent but sacrifices Iowa's health. It specifically puts a great strain on her heart, as the synthetic magic is mixed into her blood. For Indigo, he had been "corrupted" by the venom initially used to kill him. He was transformed into a "cursed spirit" trapped in what was left of his body, and calling himself "Aubergine." He can't remember what happened to himself, but he does know that he's supposed to be looking for Iowa.

To prove her loyalty to Maxwell, Jasmine actively participates and supports Maxwell's experiments. For Iowa, she finds Jasmine to be very creepy. But she doesn't otherwise complain about Jasmine's existence, since Jasmine helps to keep Iowa alive. However, Jasmine is very secretive about her purpose as well as what she was doing to Iowa. No matter what Jasmine and Maxwell try though, Iowa's mental and physical health continue to decline. It gets to the point that even Povi notices. 

However, Iowa begs Povi not to draw attention to it and instead tells Povi to focus on their next mission. This mission is to investigate the missing person's cases that have been stacking up for years. But it was only now that Guardian Angels were getting involved. With the forest on the side of New Grandier starting to take over some buildings, it was time to properly deal with the problem. With Povi and the other students having brand new holy weapons, they were "ready" for their first practical mission. Of course, they weren't supposed to actually engage with the threat.

This threat is Marcus the reaper. He is a tall boy with very alluring features. But he also seems harmless for the most part. He enjoys offering others lunch seemingly out of the goodness of his heart. However, this is actually a trick to implant his seeds in potential victims. Although he feeds his soup to everyone, only certain people have the seeds grow inside of them, namely those he deems "sinners."

Povi and the others go to confront Marcus. He treats them pretty fairly,even when they try to attack him. He mostly dodges and restrains them, not wanting to hurt the students. This changes when his forest starts catching fire.