Hans, a foundling raised by a grave robber, helps Countess Angela Gabriela, nearly thirteen, when she is torn away from her dream of being a professional puppeteer by an evil archduke out to destroy her and her parents.

Eleven-year-old Tabitha Crum, whose parents were just about to abandon her, is invited to the country estate of a wealthy countess along with five other children and told that one of them will become her heir.

For centuries there have been rumors of another continent on the dragons' planet -- another land far across the ocean, populated by tribes of dragons very different from those we know. But there's never been any evidence, and most dragons dismissed the rumors as fairy tales, until now. It turns out the stories are true, and the other tribes are coming.