Thursey is too strong-willed to be intimidated by her stepsisters with their cruel taunts claiming that her father died a coward in the war. Defying them, she makes and hides little books that preserve a variety of Cinderella stories from around the world she hears from travelers at the inn run by her stepmother.

But when the king's summer gala draws near and Thursey is, as usual, left at home, she takes charge of her own fate. With the help of a traveling monk and a friendly goatherd, she secretly prepares to attend the ball.