After two centuries of feuding the powers of the two families of magicians in mythical Caprona are too weak to stop an incipient war, but the younger members of the families find a way. Gwendolyn Chant and her brother Cat find the Chrestomanci Castle family's magic powers difficult to counter with the inferior power of the Coven Street witches.

The adventures of the Chrestomanci, an enchanter with nine lives, whose job is to control the practice of magic in the infinite parallel universes of the Twelve Related Worlds.