Martin Pritchard, a lecturer at a not especially prestigious university, wakes up one morning to discover that the world seems to be behaving exactly as he would wish it to. His initial assumption that he has lost his mind is soon supplanted by curiosity and a desire to experiment, which he duly does.Unfortunately, his familiar turns out to be a lazy but lecherous cat, more concerned with the romantic conquest of the attractive but arrogant Siamese living a few doors away than with doing his job, which is to tell Martin about his powers and of the ways in which he may, should not and most certainly must never use them.Inheriting his powers coincided with the death of Martin's biological father, of whose existence he had hitherto been unaware, and whose two legitimate children also inherited his powers. They however prove much less able than Martin to use them, and their weakness is exploited by another relation, who encourages them to take action against their half brother in the mistaken belief that he has stolen almost all of their share of their father's powers. Lurking in the background are the mysterious 'them', the ones who appear to be in charge of all things magical, policing the Realm and enforcing the rules with the threat of severe punishment for those who break them, regardless of how many legs the offender may have. Of the even more sinister beings lurking behind the background, no more should be said here.