Princess Anya sets out to defeat her step-stepfather Duke Rikard, who is an evil wizard determined to rule the kingdom, with help from the librarian Gotfried and the Royal Dogs.

Harassed at her middle school, not taken seriously at home, and with a "perfect" older brother, Matthew, to live up to, thirteen-year-old Claire has always felt like her life was cursed--then one morning, when she are her beloved father are talking at breakfast, her father suddenly falls over with a stroke, and suddenly everything changes.