Following the death of his father and a forced relocation to the countryside, a grieving boy named Mungo encounters a mysterious namesake who possesses the ability to alter reality.

Struggling to navigate his new environment and the weight of his loss, Mungo finds his reality destabilized by the presence of a strange boy in his village. As the narrative progresses, the boundaries between the mundane world and the inexplicable begin to blur, culminating in a crisis during a severe hurricane. Trapped in a disused well, Mungo must confront the reality of his situation when his only means of escape, a rope ladder, vanishes. The story utilizes a third-person perspective to track Mungo's internal state as he attempts to reconcile his grief with the surreal events unfolding around him.

Readers and critics often note the author's ability to blend grounded emotional realism with unsettling supernatural occurrences. Discussion frequently centers on the effectiveness of the rural setting in amplifying the protagonist's sense of isolation and confusion. Many reviewers highlight the narrative's unpredictable nature, noting that the plot avoids conventional tropes in favor of a more surreal and atmospheric progression. The balance between the character's internal grief and the external, inexplicable events is a common point of analysis for those evaluating the book's pacing. Overall, the work is recognized for its distinct tone and its refusal to provide easy resolutions to the protagonist's existential dilemmas.