Richard Cranfield is an ordinary thirteen-year-old who never expected that a ride on the school bus would catapult him and his friend Tom into a half-world that had 'gone missing' a long time ago. They find themselves in an alternate version of the world where sorcery, elves, dragons and many other mythological creatures abound. It amazes them at first, but soon this world appears to be more frighteningly real than their own. They meet a young female elf who changes Richard's life forever and, aided by a charismatic elf-wizard, the boys must help stop an evil elf-sorceress from recombining the half-worlds in her bid for ultimate domination. The journey leads them through a country called Dracofarne to the sorceress's fortress. The future of the half-worlds proves to be bound up in an ancient volume entitled The Key to the Half Worlds and the race is on to get hold of it before the elf-sorceress does. Can they save the day, and in doing so, save the world?