A complex interweaving of story and fable, poem, artwork, and music about the culture of the Kesh, a peaceful people of the far future who inhabit a place called the Valley on the Northern Pacific coast.
When Sparrowhawk, the Archmage of Earthsea, returns from the dark land stripped of his magic powers, he finds refuge with the aging widow Tenar and a crippled girl child who carries an unknown destiny.