The Thief of Always starts out by introducing the main character, Harvey Swick. Harvey Swick is a 10-year-old boy who finds himself bored with school, uninteresting teachers, homework, and his day-to-day life. In response to a frustrated plea for change, a man named Rictus flies up to Harvey's window and tells him about a kid's paradise, the Holiday House. At the Holiday House, there are all the sweets a person could ask for, four seasons in a day, Halloween every evening, Christmas, with whatever gifts you could wish for, every night, and everything else you could dream of. Harvey reluctantly goes to the house after a week of thinking, and enters the house through a wall surrounded by mist. Eventually, Harvey warms up to the wonders of the Holiday House, and stays there for thirty-one days, becoming friends with Wendell and Lulu, two other kids at the house. There is also a woman, Mrs. Griffin, who cooks all the meals for the children. Harvey eventually starts to suspect that the house is not as perfect as it seems. Harvey discovers that the house's creator, Mr. Hood, has sucked all of the children's souls away.
