Marikit is used to wearing recycled clothes. Her mother, the best seamstress in the barrio, has become an expert at making due ever since Marikit's father and brother were lost at sea. But for her tenth birthday, all Marikit wants is something new. So when her mother gifts her a patchwork dress stitched together with leftover scraps from her workshop, Marikit vows to never wear it. That is, until the eve of her birthday, when shadow creatures creep into their home and upend the very life she knew.

Marikit discovers that her dress is a map, one lovingly crafted to lead her to safety in the magical lands of the engkantos, where Marikit makes friends out of monsters and challenges the gods. With the help of her friends, including an exuberant firefly and a cursed boy, Marikit journeys through the land of the engkantos to find the key to saving her family.