The Northern Caucasus, land of mountains and legends, is home to a nine-year-old girl Sofka, her Ukrainian father and her brother. Sofka seeks exciting adventures in the world outside her front door but is terrified of the crusader spiders who inhabit the family's outhouse. In her dreams, she hears the sad story of the spiders' fate some centuries ago and as a result develops a friendship with one of the spiders.

When the children travel to Ukraine to visit their aunt, Sofka is tasked by the spider to help the sad maiden, who appears by an overgrown pond at midnight, to find her evil stepmother. The stepmother cursed the maiden's family and ruined their lives. But Sofka is terrified. The task seems impossible for her to carry out. She tells the spider she won't do it. Will the spider persuade her?