Thirteen-year-old orphan Maria arrives at Moonacre Manor in Silver Dew Village with her governess to seek refuge with her uncle, Sir Benjamin. The village of Silver Dew is known for its simple and beautiful landscape, but it's also a place full of mystery and suspense. The manor grounds are filled with yew trees trimmed into strange shapes of roosters and knights. Sir Benjamin, who lives alone with his dwarf chef, claims that no woman has set foot in the Moonacre Manor house in twenty years. There’s a terrifyingly large dog named Ralf (who suddenly returned to the house after being gone for 20 years), a clever and magical black cat named Zachara that communicates messages by drawing with its paws, an enigmatic dark pine forest, a mysterious white horse that seems almost otherworldly, and an ancient legend about a moon princess and a white horse that has been passed down for hundreds of years.