Paradine Devlin is an ordinary girl of fourteen living in the poor village of Medford deep in the Appalachian Mountains. She and her mother, Rosemary are frequently abused by her stepfather. She has no hope for a brighter future, no shining dreams as young people frequently do. Then, unexpectedly she is whisked away to the magical village of Quincannon Derry hidden deep in the towering mountain. She finds that she is capable of performing many wonderful feats of magic. But inevitably, there is an underlying threat of evil and she finds she must master her skills very rapidly in order to protect herself. She meets a young man who becomes very important to her and finds that she has family there that she never knew existed.