In this psychological thriller that touches upon the dark, fantastic realm of Celtic myth, two young lovers find their lives, and their love, torn apart by the power of fairy tales. Mick, a young professor with expertise in folklore, wants to make a name for himself in the academic world, so when he learns of a remote seacoast community in the British Isles which maintains an ancient tradition of storytelling, he brings his new girlfriend, Kath, on a working vacation to visit the isolated village. While listening to Lame Elly, the matriarchal storyteller in the community, Kath is gripped by visions that she and Mick are participants in the story, and later these visions grow in intensity, become nightmarish, and affect Kath so much that she collapses and needs to be hospitalized. When Mick, for whom stories are just stories, starts to question Kath's sanity, he precipates a crisis in their relationship, which deepens when Kath insists that her experiences are real and not just hallucinations. Also, the more Kath and Mick are drawn into the community, the more the reader realizes that some of the local people may be more than just the country villagers that they appear: some characters may in fact be visitors from "Elverie," a local term for Fairyland or Elfland, or the Land of the Dead.