Tracy Marinetti Ripley is a journalist for the Crimson Tribune, and she loves a challenge, researching and writing about the subjects others avoid or don't see.

The Crimson Tribune is owned by Russell "Rush" Ripley. Rush keeps tabs on every single story published in the Tribune but isn't able to keep Tracy within his conservative restrictions.

Tracy takes a nature assignment just to keep Rush happy, but while deep in the woods, capturing nature, Tracy encounters a cute, little girl, dirty and all alone, dressed in a burlap bag. She follows the singing beauty, as the little girl chases a butterfly around a boulder and disappears.

Tracy's interest is piqued, and she keeps coming back to the woods until she finally meets the little girl who takes Tracy to her home in the underground city of Jancrest.