It all starts when the storyteller tells Jill that it's high time she met Jack. The question is: Which Jack? "They're all called Jack around here," Mother Greenwood tells her. There's Great- grandfather Jack, Uncle Jack, Daft Jack, Jack the Giant Killer, and more, including, of course, Mother Greenwood's lazy, good-for-nothing, waste-of-a-wishbone son, Jack.

The Jack stories are brimming with giants, magicians, dragons, brave deeds, clever tricks, princesses, and funny surprises, and Jill thinks each one is better than the last. But what does Mother Greenwood mean when she says that the storyteller puts everyone he meets into a story? What's with those beans Mother Greenwood tossed out her window? And what will happen when Jill meets her Jack?