Twelve-year-old Meggie Folchart has often wondered what happened to her mother who mysteriously disappeared when Meggie was a young girl. As she learns about her father's ability to read characters out of books, and read and people into them, she realizes, that this unusual power runs in the family. Soon, the truth of Inkheart unravels itself and Meggie finds herself risking everything to rescue her mother. But does Meggie stand a chance against the evil lord Capricorn and Inkheart's most vicious villain, the Shadow?