While sitting by a fireside on an autumn evening, a young mouse asks an elderly badger named Bella of Brockhall to tell him a story. She says:

As I sit here in the warmth and peace it all lives again in my memory, a strange tale of love and war, friend and foe, great happenings and mighty deeds. ‘Gaze into the fire, young one. Listen to me and I will tell you the story’ (10).

On a snowy winter’s night in Mossflower, a brave young mouse named Martin the Warrior travels through snowdrifts, seeking shelter. He unknowingly has wandered into the domain of Kotir. In a nearby hovel, a family huddles in their cottage, sharing their meager food supply. Ben and Goody Stickle are the parents of four young hedgehogs. They are soon joined by a mole named Urthclaw. He arrives to announce that soldiers sent by the cruel ruler of Kotir have come out in search of more provisions. The Stickles want to leave but don’t know where to go. Urthclaw produces a map for them: “Scratched on the bark in charcoal was a single word: Corim.