Because only he can read the magical map, young, weak and timid Rowan joins six other villagers to climb a mountain and try to restore their water supply, as fears of a dragon and other horrors threaten to drive them back.
When an ancient evil threatens to devastate Rin, overcoming its people with a fatal sleeping sickness, young Rowan, with help from a tribe called the Travelers, must decipher a rhyming riddle in order to save the land and its inhabitants.