Charlie has lived in the Marvelous Land of Ap since he was a teenager. He doesn't miss the world at all. Ella has just arrived and she can't wait to go home. Until that happens, Charlie has agreed to look after Ella. Unfortunately, this arrangement gets complicated when Charlie's duty takes him, a reluctant Ella, and a young boy named Thimble from the safety of Ap, into the uncertain dangers of the Dustlands.