A prosperous modern English family is taking a long vacation in one of the mountain valleys of North Wales on an estate which the daughter, Alison, inherited from her uncle. Now a part of the modern United Kingdom, Wales was once a separate Celtic nation with its own myths and legends, one of which concerns this very valley. North Wales is beautiful but poor. Englishmen tend to look down on Welshmen, Welsh customs, and Welsh accents, an attitude bitterly resented by the Welsh.

The English family consists of Roger and his father Clive, and Alison and her mother Margaret. Clive and Margaret have married recently, each for the second time. Looking after Alison's estate are Huw Halfbacon, a Welsh laborer who seems simple-minded; Nancy, the Welsh housekeeper; and Gwyn, Nancy's son.

Garner draws much of his story and themes from myths in The Mabinogion, an ancient collection of...