Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking.
Magically-gifted Charlie Bone, accompanied by his best friend's dog, Runner Bean, comes to the rescue when the enchanter Count Harken takes revenge on the Red King's heirs by kidnapping and imprisoning Charlie's ancestors in the dark, forbidding land of Badlock.
Charlie and his magically gifted friends and relatives work together to rescue Billy Raven, a young orphan, from a mysterious and dangerous couple who have adopted him.
When Asa Pike, a Bloor's Academy student with the ability to change into a beast at dusk, goes missing, twelve-year-old Charlie Bone suspects a new classmate, the magically gifted Dagobert Endless, of foul play.