1648. After the Thirty Years War, Germany is a wretched, plundered land, still ravished by the Black Death. Urchin Krabat gets separated from his beggar friends and finds refuge on the flourishing estate of the black miller. the hard worker gets initiated in his secret magic society. Only afterward he learns its terrible dark secrets, which spell death and/or solitude for the boys and their beloved village girls. A surprising friend offers a daring way out.