The great wizard Flaxfield's death leaves his twelve-year-old apprentice Sam half-trained, but when other wizards gather and debate his fate Sam, not knowing whom to trust, leaves with only his dragon, Starback, for company, unaware of the perils he must face.

Falsely accused of bullying, wizard apprentice Tamrin leaves Canterstock College for Wizards and sets out in search of Sam, the only person to whom she has ever felt a connection, but Sam, adrift since his master Flaxfield died, has been targeted by Flaxfield's old enemy, the powerful wizard Ash.