Young Hoops, considered a dull-witted academic failure and a coward by his fellow Wiffins, is thrust into a treacherous world of witchcraft, warring monarchs, and bizarre creatures of prey in a quest to recover a talisman of massive power, and thus save his country from eventual enslavement. Accompanied by a rebel warrior princess, a timid wolf, and a mysterious bat-winged cat, Hoops finds himself having to match wits with an iron-willed Queen Saragata, outsmart the vain God of War, Brutius, and overcome panic when facing the ferocious Klackclaws or the demonic General Itus in a duel to the death.