After the shocking arrival of her new stepmother and horrid stepbrother, Elvie, an unloved princess, finds herself even more alone than ever before. The dreadful wounding of a young dragon changes her world forever along with that of the servant boy, Flint. 
To save the life of the dragon Flint has to make a promise to a rather scary witch woman known for her healing skills. The payment for her services is to swear that he will bring the young princess to the witch, but how he is going to achieve this is a mystery to him. Rumour says that the witch does not take well to broken promises. 
This is the beginning of a new friendship between two unlikely people whose adventures take them to secret places in the castle. There they discover they need to be one step ahead of an evil man with a black heart whose main aim in life is to capture a dragon. 
Elvie is shocked when the injured dragon tells her he too is lonely and he had been searching for her when he was brought down by the spear.