The days aren’t easy for Amelia Browning. Her mother is dead, her father is gravely ill, and she spends her waking hours suffering her cruel Aunt Vermina’s chores. But every night Amelia leaves her troubles behind when she steps onto the stage of a bright, bold, Technicolor dream where she stars in fantastical adventures and always saves the day.

One evening, when Amelia begs her aunt to see her dying father, she is punished and sent to bed early. She arrives in her dream sooner than usual to find it under construction by a cast of curious characters and learns that dreams are elaborate plays written, produced, and built anew each night. And when she peeks behind the backstage curtain, she finds a dark world of shadows and monstrous creatures. The NightMire. The land where nightmares are born. A terrifying place that will reveal that neither her aunt nor her father’s illness are quite what they seem.

Along with her terrier companion Tagalong, Amelia embarks on an adventure to save her father. An adventure that will reveal a grander destiny than she ever dreamed possible...if she can only save the day one last time. Because, if she can’t, she might never awaken.