In the land of Earthsea, crops are failing and livestock dying. Two dragons appear from the storm clouds and devour each other - an omen of impending disaster. The balance of the world is in peril of tearing apart.In his search for the cause of this encroaching catastrophe, the Archmage Ged, the greatest of wizards, meets Arren, exiled Prince of Enlad, in flight from a nameless Shadow. They journey through ruined landscapes to Hort Town - a city where blank citizens deal only in fake goods, slaves are traded and addicts wander the dangerous streets - and cross paths with Therru, an orphan girl with a fire-scarred face. Ged learns that the wizard Cob, in his search for eternal life, is preparing to open the door between the realms of the living and the dead. An old and defeated adversary, Cob has sworn to take terrible revenge on Ged.