Everything is going wrong in the town of Drocknock until the new wizard arrives. He is very young, and he is lonely, and very nervous too; but he knows just where to find the right spells to stop the chicken pox epidemic and bring back the twenty cows that had disappeared. The drought is the town's most important problem, however. The new wizard needs five of his own tears to bring rain, but he is so happy in Drocknock he cannot cry! 'Peel an onion,' the old wizard advises. 'But,' he warns, 'beware, beware... a wizard's tears are powerful. They can make strange magic.'