Ignoring warnings against it, little Billy enters the Forest of Sins, only to be pursued by the fearsome Grinder, a creature who chases him high up an ancient tree, where he encounters a city of tree-dwelling, matchstick-sized people.

In an attempt to find a cure after being diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen-year-old boy, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital.

Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, becomes a thief for a band of dwarves and soon finds himself in the midst of a war with the evil goblins and wargs, and forced to make a decision between the call of duty and the pull of the simple life.

After Mallory is kidnapped at her fencing meet, Jared and Simon search for her near an old quarry and find themselves amidst dwarves and goblins.