The stone narrator introduces the novel's main characters—the 15 orphans at the Orphan House and the Ogress. These 16 people are kind, often caring more about others than themselves. The stone claims this kind of caring can be a problem, but “it can also be a solution” (2).

The story is also about a dragon that the stone does not like because this dragon has chosen to be bad to others. The stone wants to tell the reader that everyone is good, but it cannot because, while most people are, a few are not. The dragon is the villain of this story, and “every villain has a story” (4).

The town, Stone-in-the-Glen, was once known for being a lovely town full of lovely people. Everything changed the night the Library burned down, leaving “a tangle of ash, old metal, and fallen, charred stone” (8). After that, the school burned, followed by many other buildings, and eventually, the trees died. As a result, Stone-in-the-Glen is now a place of blinding sunlight where rain brings damaging floods. The people are no longer lovely and stay shut up in their homes.