At thirteen, Kahn Vols is a perfect target for the bullies in the village of Caspin in the Apuseni Mountains near Transylvania. An outcast, tall for his age and overweight, Kahn also struggles with a speech impediment. To avoid the constant torment, he seeks respite in the woods, a dark forest that houses both the castle of Count Drodden and an asylum for the dangerous and insane. No one from the village has ever seen the count or the castle.
Although Kahn understands the woods is off-limits, he returns again and again performing small tasks. One day, he's surprised by Heric, the executor of the castle and its grounds, who pays Kahn to work for him and eventually becomes a friend of sorts. As Kahn grows to manhood, he is invited into the castle and placed in charge of the asylum. With his newfound power, he is finally able to exact some revenge against the villagers, now grown to adulthood, who had tormented him in his childhood.
Kahn's rise from weakness to power through ruthless violence makes him many enemies, and only time will tell how or when his reign will come to an end.