Once upon a time there was a pig. A small pig ... in fact a shoat. Her name was Prudence. She lived on a farm that was not so big, and not so small...and it was comfortable. The fate of a pig was that of a breeding-pig or that of a market-pig...and Prudence wished to be a market-pig. Market-pigs went on adventures and saw the great lands beyond the farm, but never returned to tell the tales. Then great uncle Trilby introduced Prudence to the code of Swinedom and the legend of the Silk Purse. A talisman allegedly created from great, and many more greats, Aunt Victoria's ear. Prudence finds herself embarking on a quest to return the Silk Purse from a thief, whose ancestor has taken to a land of immense hugeness across the great water. She, her friend and protector hound, Doug, along with eccentric sea eagles, Bruce and Beryl, and an osprey, Reginald, journey to a far-off land in search of the talisman. They encounter a storm, soothsayers, demonic enemies and unlikely allies where the end is as unlikely as the beginning.