Two contrasting societies — one organized around communal, anarchist principles and the other structured by more conventional hierarchy and market relations — come into contact.

A girl taken as a child becomes the high priestess of a closed, sacred tomb complex and endures a life of ritual, solitude, and strict hierarchy.

A Wizard of Earthsea follows Ged, a gifted youth from the island of Gont, whose early talent leads him to a school of wizardry. After a duel goes wrong and releases a dangerous shadow, he must leave home and undertake a solitary quest to confront and undo the harm he caused.