Just off the coast of a dank, teeming harbor town, a horrible scientist named Krank lives on a mist-shrouded rig. He is aging prematurely because he lacks one vital function: the ability to dream. Krank's henchmen, a community of Cyclops, kidnap children from town and bring them to Krank so that he can harvest their dreams, invade them, and make them his own. He's assisted in the laboratory by the pint-sized Miss Bismuth; a disembodied brain known as Irvin; and six identical Clones. When Denree, a voracious toddler, is kidnapped by Krank's henchmen, he's pursued by One, a circus strongman who has adopted Denree as his little brother. Along the way, One is captured by Miette, a 9-year-old femme fatale and the leader of a gang of orphans who've developed a criminally ingenious strategy for survival. Together they embark on a harrowing adventure, finally confronting the evil Krank to do battle on the level field of the subconscious: within the world of a little boy's dream.