In a children's playground in a Lancashire village a baby girl is stolen from her pram by an elf who had a brief liaison with her mother. Not understanding that human children grow up very differently to elves, Pinkie Dianthus takes little Tiffany to Fairyland to look after him in his old age. But he soon realises his mistake when she won't stop crying because she wants a feed and her nappy needs changing! He hurriedly returns her to her mother only to be collared by trainee werewolf Thomas Chester and his girlfriend Rosie. They hand him over to the police and a powerful young witch, Mary Conway, who makes him vow to leave Tiffany and her mother alone. But he soon breaks his promise and kidnaps his daughter twice more. She escapes but, because time runs strangely in Fairyland, each time she returns to the human realm she is older than when she left. When Tiffany is taken for a third time, just after the Beltane celebrations at her new home, Mary decides the time has come to sort things out with the elves once and for all.