"The Witches" presents The Grand High Witch as a particularly powerful, evil and feared witch who hides her ancient age and hideous appearance behind an attractive disguise, in order to blend in with society, and plots to wipe out all the children in England after summoning the local witches for the task. The boy protagonist and his grandmother (herself a retired witch-hunter who once searched the world for The Grand High Witch) encounter her by accident in a hotel in England, setting in motion the main plot of the novel.