Teddy Lyndhurst lives in "tornado alley," the part of the US that is most vulnerable to tornadoes. THey terrify him. At 9 years old, he lives in fear that a tornado will strike while he is at school and his parents are at work.
One day when the tornado alarm sounds, he and his mother retreat to the storm cellar. Teddy hides in an old sleeping bag, but suddenly finds himself tranported to another world, one in which unicorns are real and kings and princes will honor a boy his age.
Teddy is only there briefly that first time, but every time he has to take refuge from a storm, he finds himself back in the land of unicorns, where people's lives move more quickly than his own.
After a tragedy when he turns 18, he must decide whether to stay in the land of the kingdom he has come to know well or return to the real world.
