 Pursued by bullies, dreamy Bastian, 10, flees into a used book store where a strange leather-bound volume attracts him. The owner warns him away from it, explaining that it is dangerous: once entering its world, the reader cannot escape. Bastian borrows the now irresistable book and hides in the school attic. He reads of a beautiful, doomed land named Fantasia, and a brave boy desperately anointed by the princess to stop its mysterious ongoing destruction. Drawn into young Atreyu s quest as with no other book, Bastian discovers astonished that the Fantasians hear Bastian scream and see Bastian in mirrors. Where is Fantasia, and where is he? Can Atreyu save Fantasia, or is the princess really summoning Bastian himself?