Prue is an average-looking twelve-year-old girl with bobbed dark hair and brown eyes. She lives with her parents and baby brother, Mac, in Portland, Oregon. When Mac is abducted by a murder of crows, Prue is determined to get him back. Much to her surprise, Prue learns that she has the ability to cross the invisible barrier leading to the Impassable Wilderness.

Once inside this magical realm, Prue demonstrates courage and a stubborn determination to find her brother. She is resourceful enough to find unusual solutions to the challenges that confront her. Over the course of her adventures in the Wood, Prue also learns that she may have some supernatural abilities herself. Once Prue accomplishes the goal of bringing her brother home, the narrative suggests that future adventures may be in store for her in the Wood.

Curtis is Prue’s schoolmate. He wears glasses and is viewed as an oddball by the other kids. Meloy writes, “Curtis’s round face was topped by a mass of curly black hair that sprang from beneath his slicker hood like little coils of steel wool” (22). Curtis tags along on Prue’s journey into the Impassable Wilderness because he wants to form a bond with her and overcome his status as a loner.