A lonely old recluse is accused by his fellow villagers of being the devil's disciple when they discover he has invented an imaginary family to keep himself company.
In the seventeenth century a young boy, newly arrived to live with his grandfather on the channel island of Serq, befriends a wild and troubled girl whose aunt is determined that she become a witch.
Ten-year-old Rosemary thinks the word "Time" cut into a stone in her aunt's old herb garden should be spelled "Thyme" until she picks a sprig of the herb around it and discovers herself back in the eighteenth century.