Garion thinks that he's just a farm boy, orphaned and being raised by his mysterious Aunt Pol. Of course he's had a few odd things happen to him, like the shadow that follows him around, and the dry voice that speaks in his mind, but not having anything else to compare it to, he thinks his life is ordinary. So when an old story teller who seems to know Aunt Pol shows up and things start happening, Garion is unprepared. It seems that something important has been stolen, and all of the sudden the three of them are leaving the farm where Garion has spent all of his life and running across the land, pursuing an unknown person, and being pursued by others. They are joined by still more mysterious people, including the spy and thief Silk, the warrior Barak, and others as they cross the continent.
As the journey continues, Garion comes to understand that he's not so normal as he always thought, and that neither is his Aunt Pol or the enigmatic man she calls "Old Wolf." The three of them and their companions are in fact a part of something much larger that goes back to the dawn of the world.