Hugo is an adventurous nine-year-old boy who moves to the small seaside village of Westward Ho! on the coast of North Devon in the South West of England. His chance discovery of an unusual stone with a strange zigzag pattern that "hatches" into a weird large bird that is discovered to have magical powers starts him off on a dangerous and life-threatening adventure. He is confronted with evil repercussions resulting from the historic miscarriage of justice that led to the deaths of the last three women to be tried and hanged for witchcraft in England over three hundred years previously. On his dangerous journey, he meets many strange characters and has to take his own life and those of his friends in his hands if he is to rescue the tooth fairy from the clutches of a revenge-seeking witch bent on destroying all those who caused her death as a girl and anyone who gets in her way.