Roy sends Edward and Alphonse on a search for a supposedly nonexistent town named Wisteria, which has been rumored to be a paradise, in a desert, surprisingly. However, the town really does exist but is isolated from outside contact. Ed and Al are granted entrance into the town after helping Ruby, a girl who lives in Wisteria and serves as one of the best guards of the town to keep unwanted people from coming in. Ruby introduces the brothers to the mayor of the town, and explains that the town runs on the law of Equivalent Exchange, so everyone works to get in reward their needs. After exploring the town, Al considers staying there forever, while Ed questions the town's system. Ed then meets a young boy who has been friends with Ruby before they came to Wisteria, and Ed learns of the poverty in the town that falls upon those who cannot work like everyone else. Ed and Al set out to prove the mayor of the town wrong.