The moon of Endor gets attacked by a vicious band of thuggish Sanyassan marauders, whose ancestors also crashlanded on Endor some time ago, and a powerful shape-shifting sorceress named Charal under the leadership of King Terak.  They attack the Ewok village, taking the crashed Towani ship's power source after killing Cindel's family, then take away all of the Ewoks except Wicket back to their dungeons as prisoners.

While roving the forest, Cindel and Wicket encounter a mysterious creature named Teek who leads them to the home of a grumpy hermit named Noa Briqualon, who we come to find has also crashlanded there. Noa wards them off, but his icy exterior melts to friendship, leading to Teek and Noa helping them on their quest to free the imprisoned Ewoks from the marauders' castle. King Terak is confident that the powerful crystal that is an energy cell used by the Towani family star cruiser has magical powers. The power, Terak feels, will get them off of Endor and that Cindel must be some sorceress who can tap into those powers.