Drizzt do'Urden (a dark elf), Bruenor the dwarf, Regis the halfling, and Wulfgar the barbarian join forces to defend the arctic frontier cluster of villages called Ten-Towns, against a sorcerer's only-semi-competent apprentice, Akar Kessell, whose power is greatly enhanced (and directed) when he accidentally stumbles upon a long-lost but immensely powerful sentient crystal.