Part 1: Chapters 1-6 Summary

Gwyn, a young girl in a fictional world called The Kingdom, dons the costume of a character called Jackaroo, a Robin-Hood type figure who goes around the countryside, helping those in need. In the first section, the reader is introduced to Gwyn and her brother Tad at an event called the "Doling," where the Earl's Steward hands out food stores that the government collected earlier in the year. Though the people are unkind to Gwyn because she is the daughter of a wealthy innkeeper and should not need the supplies, she is actually collecting them for an older woman, Old Megg, who lives in a hut on her father's estate. One old woman at the Doling is particularly kind to her, and Gwyn offers to walk her home in the snow. However, when they arrive at the old woman's...