When Tip, a timid miller's son, discovers that his parents have been captured by an evil queen, he must overcome his fears and find the courage to secure their freedom. In the land of Erd, Tip lives with his mother, father, and two brothers in peace and security the little Valley of Cabbages until strange dark forces invade the land. Finally, one night a huge steel-beaked magpie taps at his window pane shattering it. Then the evil wraith, accompanying the bird, marks his door with soot, predicting disaster. Frightened, he tries to deny what is happening. But soon after, he returns from fishingto find a strange cart, six flying ponies and an elfin driver at the mill. His parents announce that the driver will take them to the south lands where Foxglove, King of the Fe'en, has given them a cottage safe from the ravages of the north wind. They say Tip and his shiftless brothers will now have to make their own way in the world but will be given inheritances to do so. Confused and hurt, Tip's world is turned upside down. His woes continue when the inheritance he's given isn't the family mill--around which he has built his whole life--but a strange tattered box. His father tells him to leave the mill and open the box in a clearing deep in the dark oak forest. But no sooner has he entered the dark wood than he is robbed of his beloved horse Snowdrop and all his clothes. With his faithful dog, Jack, and dressed in the robber's rags he trudges on. Suddenly, far above him in a tree he hears a voice calling for help. It proves to be the very elf that drove his parents away. Once rescued, the elf, Hop-In-Your-Pocket, tells the boy that a giant Magpie and her flock stole his parents away. Tip and the elf start off in search of his parents when the boy spots the clearing in which he is to open the box. The elf warns Tip that the clearing is a pixie ring and if he opens it there, something horrible is sure to emerge. Struggling, Tip nonetheless overcomes his fears and opens the box. When he does, he gets far more than the few coins he expected. For the box contains a genie who sets the reluctant Tip on a series of adventures that will force him to face Argentia the Queen of the Night and an evil so profound that it threatens not only his little world but the universe itself. Just as challenging, Tip must face his own fearsand cowardess before they lead to his failure and the death or slavery of those he loves.