In a sleepy town outside Sandy, Oregon, a van plunges off a tall bridge into a swiftly moving river resulting in the demise of nearly an entire family. Leigh Buttonwood, a local artist, witnesses the tragedy and dives into the icy waters, saving baby Silas from the sinking van.

Baby Silas is turned over to his recklessly unstable and mysterious grandmother, known around town as Dolly Doubloon. But shortly thereafter, an illegal backwoods adoption lands baby Silas in the hands of Leigh and Daniel Buttonwood, who raise the boy as their own.

As a six-year-old, Silas takes on a new persona of Wolf Boy, but not in a sense that he howls at the moon or changes into a hairy kid beast once a month. He simply lives in the woods and wears a wolf headdress, beads, feathers, and a fur-lined cape. His eccentricities make him a target for bullies-and as an outcast he is most comfortable in the woods, regularly retreating deep into the cold forest where he cannot be found. He claims to have befriended a giant and a wizard, and those accounts seems all too real. On brief and covert returns home, Silas leaves intricate and wildly colorful drawings of his adventures, to which Leigh begins adding text narrations, crafting a story arc. Compiled into an endearing graphic novel for the ages, Wolf Boy & the Doubleback Giant becomes an international sensation.

Wolf boy runs with wizards, giants, and fairies, but does Silas? His parents chalk it up to imaginary friends...But as his mysterious lineage starts to unravel, it is rumored that a spirit haunts the family, guiding Wolf Boy on an unpredictable path as he questions his existence.