Lords and Ladies recap

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg return to Lancre to find Magrat about to marry King Verence and a group of local girls, led by the arrogant Diamanda, playing at witchcraft by dancing at the old standing stones. Their games weaken the barrier that keeps out the elves, the beautiful and merciless Fair Folk, whose Queen has long wanted to break back into the human world. As midsummer and the royal wedding approach, and wizards from the Unseen University arrive as guests, the elves cross over and begin to work their glamour on the kingdom. Magrat, feeling she has lost herself in becoming a queen, discovers her strength when it matters most: taking up the armour of an ancient warrior queen, she fights the elves and helps save Verence. Granny confronts the Queen directly in a battle of wills, while Nanny and the wizards deal with the elves' estranged King. The elves are beaten and driven back out of the world, the barrier is restored, and Magrat and Verence are finally married.

Previously, in earlier books: three witches keep watch over the small mountain kingdom of Lancre, the stern and powerful Granny Weatherwax, the cheerful Nanny Ogg, and the youngest of them, Magrat Garlick. Together they saved Lancre's throne from a usurper, hiding the murdered king's heir until the crown could pass to the castle's former Fool, who became King Verence II. Over that adventure Magrat and Verence were drawn to one another. More recently the three traveled far abroad to the city of Genua, where Granny confronted and defeated her own estranged sister, a fairy godmother who forced people to live inside stories. Returning home, the coven is much as it was, with Granny insisting witches should not meddle while meddling all the same. Now Magrat is preparing to marry Verence and become Queen of Lancre, a change that pulls her away from the craft and leaves her unsure of who she is, at exactly the moment the kingdom will need every witch it has.

It is high summer in Lancre, and the whole kingdom is preparing for the wedding of King Verence and Magrat Garlick. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg come home to find that a group of local girls, led by the clever and arrogant Diamanda, have taken up an idea of witchcraft as something mysterious and glamorous, and have been dancing at the ring of old standing stones known as the Dancers. Those stones mark a thin place in the world, a barrier holding back the elves of ancient story, and the girls' games are wearing it dangerously thin. Granny, who has old reasons of her own to fear the Fair Folk, recognizes the danger at once, while Magrat is distracted by becoming a queen and losing her sense of herself. Wizards from the Unseen University are on their way for the wedding, and something cold and beautiful is beginning to press against the weakening border between the worlds.

The elves break fully into Lancre when the weakened barrier gives way around midsummer, spreading their glamour and menace through the kingdom just as the royal wedding nears. Diamanda, who helped open the way, is badly hurt after challenging Granny, and the young would-be witches learn too late what they have unleashed. As the Fair Folk close in on the castle and threaten King Verence, Magrat casts off her doubts about being a queen: she puts on the armour of a legendary Lancre warrior queen and fights, rescuing Verence and proving to herself that she was a witch all along. Granny Weatherwax faces the Queen of the elves alone in a contest of pure will, drawing on her deep bond with the land, while Nanny Ogg and Archchancellor Ridcully's wizards reach the elves' long-buried King, who has no love for the Queen and does not oppose them. Outmatched and humiliated, the Queen is defeated and the elves are forced back out of the world, the old barrier sealing behind them. With the danger past, Magrat and Verence are married, and Lancre settles into an uneasy peace, its people quietly reminded why the Fair Folk were shut out in the first place.