There he was, below the bridge, half-naked, eyes blazing.

He had a pair of burning torches. He ran them back and forth across his skin. He sipped from a bottle, breathed across a torch, and fire and furnes leapt from his lips.

The air was filled with the scent of paraffin. He breathed again, a great high spreading flag of fire.

He glared. He roared like an animal. That summer, life had seemed perfect for Bobby Burns.

But now it's autumn and the winds of change are blowing hard.

Bobby's dad is mysteriously ill. His new school is a cold and cruel place. And worse: nuclear bombs are being tested. Is World War III about to start? But Bobby has a wonder-working friend called Ailsa Spink. And he's found the fire-eater, a devil called McNulty.

What can they do together on Bobby's beach? Is it possible to work miracles? Will they be able to transform the world?