Dorothy and her trusty hen, Billina, are washed ashore in the Land of Ev after a shipwreck. At first Dorothy is delighted to find lunch grows on trees in lunchboxes. But soon she realises there is a darker side to the Land of Ev. On the seashore, Dorothy encounters the Wheelers, terrifying creatures with wheels instead of hands and feet, but luckily manages to escape to a nearby cave. Here she befriends Tik-Tok, a loyal, robot-like creature who needs to be wound up like a toy to function. He warns her to stay away from the Wheelers and tells her the story of the Land of Ev.