Five young professionals and students are dramatically precipitated out of their lives in this world into the realm of Fionavar, the true world, of which our own is only shadow. Led by Silvercloak, the wizard, the five are caught up in the opening forays of a devastating war as the renegade god, Rakoth Maugrim, breaks free from his thousand-year imprisonment. In a world gripped by the timeless war between the forces of Light and Dark, a rich tapestry is woven as the five are confronted by wood and water spirits, dwarves, supernatural animals and the titanic magics of the gods, against which the strengths of humans seem weak and small.