The story takes place in the early 1960s, at the beginning of the period in which Charles Xavier is actively searching for other mutants. Charles is still a young professor and academic rather than the legendary Professor X he will eventually become. He has already written and presented his work concerning mutation and the possibility that extraordinary abilities exist among ordinary people, and he is fascinated by the idea that mutants might one day be able to understand their abilities instead of fearing them. His closest companion is Raven, and he is beginning to work with Erik Lehnsherr, whose completely different worldview constantly challenges Charles’s optimism.