The book begins a prologue on the witch Nightshade still trapped in the form of a crow in a cage in Woodland Park Zoo, having been exiled from Landover for more than five years.

The story proper begins in the principal's office of the exclusive private school Carringon Women's Preparatory in New England where Mistaya "Misty" Holiday had been sent by Ben to "learn about places other than" Landover.

The third and current visit came about because Misty had done something to terrify fellow student Rhonda Masterson to the point of hysterics and had to be sedated by a nurse.

Taking a flight to Dulles, the Waynesboro, she returned to Landover through a portal located in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, passable only by certain magic.

Before Ben could approach Mistaya about the project, he was presented with a proposal of marriage to his daughter from Laphroig, lord of Rhyndweir, the largest of the Greensward baronies.

Personally repulsed, Ben diplomatically avoided giving a direct answer, but Laphroig chose to interpret it as tacit approval to woo the girl, and sprung himself upon Misty who had not been informed.

She chose to run away from home to her grandfather and enlisted the aid of Poggwydd to hide some of the packings she would need, but this also resulted in her becoming stuck with the Gnome as a travelling companion.

When Misty arrived at her grandfather's domain of the lake country, he allowed her to stay but refused to take her side against her father.

Together, they seemed to persuade Craswell Crabbit, the person in charge of Libiris, to allow Misty to stay and help with the work in organising the books.

While Ben and the River King had been trying unsuccessfully to locate Misty, Laphroig deployed his spies to watch the royal castle, convinced he could take advantage of the situation.

Meanwhile, through his spies watching Sterling Silver, Laphroig learned the location of Mistaya and set forth there with a large group of armed men to demand Misty from Crabbit.

A stunning explosion occurred when Laphroig's thrown dagger, Pinch's crossbow bolt, and magic from Crabbit and Misty came together.

Back in the Woodland Park Zoo, the strange crow with red eyes disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared before.