In the street below her orphanage window, thirteen-year-old Ariel sees an old man move in to a broken-down cottage. At first she has no idea that he will help her walk through a portal to a new world, Walhalla—a place where she truly belongs.

Reynaldo, the old man, takes her to villages where the people are generous and happy, but also to towns of people starving and afraid. This is the legacy of the evil Largo, Walhalla's overlord, who rules by fear and favour.

Ariel must find a way to defeat Largo to bring happiness back to the land.