A stopwatch has sixty thin black lines, each marking off the seconds in a minute. But in Tom’s stopwatch, they are also gateways to sixty different worlds ...

At his grandfather’s request, Tom and his new sidekick, Bilby, are sent on a mission to save the Land of Mirthful. Tom is welcomed by the grumpy monarch, Queen Mavis, who threatens anyone who laughs with the punishment of death. It turns out that she is a common fishwife who seized power and is not the rightful ruler of the Land of Mirthful – and without a proper queen, their world as they know it is doomed…