Deep in the snowy woods, four orphans of the Bunion Home for Extra Children discover a broken picture frame hidden in a stone garden. In another time, across the sea, a boy is born with a decidedly pointy head; his fate is tied to the two young sisters he meets at a seaside carnival. And on the cold sands of a cursed beach, a white buffalo pines for his lost treasure. All the characters' separate journeys bring them to the Picture Island, and an epic battle with a Sea Witch for the island-and their own souls-ensues.