Is it a mark of insanity when your life turns into a faerie tale? Or is it a sign of awakening? And how do you tell the difference?

Jessica Kendall thinks she is fleeing a nightmare, when she impulsively trades her promising but mundane career at a California university for the isolation of a tiny farming village in south-central Germany. She soon discovers, however, that it is not quite so easy to run away from a dream.

There is something odd about her stern but grandmotherly new landlady, Frau Totmüller, and something even odder—and more wonderful—about the old woman's handsome, successful son. Drawn to the enigmatic Hermann, despite her fears and misgivings, Jessica soon finds herself immersed in a world of magic, ancient artifacts, and unimaginable power that seems to have been waiting for her all her life.