Candy Quackenbush, escaping her boring life in the most boring place in our world, Chickentown, discovers Abarat, a wonderful world made up of 25 islands, one for each hour of the day and an island outside of time, and on each of these islands It's always the same time. The young woman's adventures on the islands become stranger by the moment. Candy's companions must race against time to save her from the clutches of Carrion, and she must solve the mystery of her past before the forces of the night launch an attack on her and darkness descends on the islands of Abarat. forever.