Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen recounts the adventures of Corporal Calvin Morrison of the Pennsylvania State Police who is accidentally transported to a more backward parallel universe. Morrison ends up in a significantly different version of Pennsylvania. Initially confused by the old-growth forest and lack of settlements, Morrison meets some friendly peasants who speak an unknown language. In the middle of a meal, they are attacked by a large raiding party armed with flintlock pistols, which he helps fight off with his police-issue gun. Reinforcements arrive, but in the confusion, he is shot by the beautiful young woman leading them. Morrison finds himself the guest of Prince Ptosphes of Hostigos, whose blonde, blue-eyed daughter Rylla was the one who shot him by mistake, and Prince's people begin to call him Lord Kalvan.