Darby and the Dollberry Dare takes Darby, a young m'ite boy from the village of Dollberry Hollow, on an adventure into the B'lack Forest and deep into the Cave of the Haunted. On the eve of each red moon, the village elders choose a dare for the boys of the village who have turned ten seasons old since the rise of the last red moon. When Darby draws the short hedgehog spine, he is dared to pluck a hair from the head of the ogre who lives in the cave and take it back to the village to earn his apprentice feathers. Darby is scared, but he wants to prove to the other m'ite boys that he isn't afraid to face what hides inside the cave. However, Darby is driven to enter the cave for nobler reasons than plucking a hair from the ogre's head. What Darby finds is not only courage but something more incredible.