It has been twenty years since the time of The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood, and grown-up Willa has returned to Plunkit with her daughter, Zelly. Willa can't see the fairies anymore, but Zelly can, and she meets an unusual boy-the last remaining fairy child in Nutfolk Wood, the "Mood-catcher," Ronald Whistle Bright. The size of a leprechaun, the boy looks like a miniature Huck Finn, with a strange glow and the ability to magically surge wherever he wants to go. Hard times have befallen the fairy town of Nutfolk Wood, but Whistle Bright is determined to stay in his forest village, even though humans are sure to destroy it. And Zelly wants to stay in the small town of Plunkit where she feels she belongs, even though her mother insists that they return to their lives in the big city. Zelly is convinced that she belongs in Plunkit, and only there will she find out more about her father, who disappeared when she was three. In their quest to stay in the place that they love, the tiny Nutfolk boy and the human girl become allies and triumph in the end. Zelly is reunited with her father and Ronald Whistle Bright's forest village is saved.