Dawn Granger is a fairly ordinary young woman, studying abroad at Oxford University in England--at least until 9:11 pm on the day of Don Hall's death. Unbeknownst to her, back in America (5 hours behind the time in England), Don has just attempted to save some children from being crushed by a falling wall. The children survive; Don does not, perishing at exactly 4:11 pm Eastern Standard time.

At this time, there's a terrorist scare at the American Embassy in London; Dawn's mother is in England on diplomatic business, and is captured by this group of terrorists, who say on TV that they will blow the Embassy up at precisely 9:11 pm. Dawn is panicked--and then, suddenly, a voice (or a cloud of shimmering voices) speaks to her, saying that she has the power to bring order out of this chaos, if she will only speak the word "DOVE."

When she speaks this word, she transforms into Dove for the first time; Don's powers pass from him at his death and are relayed to her via a connection she still doesn't quite understand. She effectively routs the terrorists, turning their strength against them, and saves both her mother and the American Embassy...

...And then, once the crisis and danger is past, the Dove appearance fades, much like Cinderella's dress and carriage at the stroke of midnight. But, like Cinderella's glass slippers, the abilities of hyper-perception and agility remain in Dawn's consciousness, to help her during her everyday life.