An ogre takes a human wife, who grows to love him. She bears him six half-ogre, half-human children. The ogre eats human flesh, but he does not eat her or the children. They live happily until one day she shelters six lost human children and tries to make sure he will not eat them, but he does, during the night -- however, it turns out that the oldest child swapped her siblings' places with his children, so he actually ate his own children. This puts a wrench in his relationship with his wife, who eventually decides to set out on her own. She journeys with an invisible cloak and a magical cake that replenishes itself, both of which he imbues with his magic to protect her. She comes across humans out to hunt ogres and outwits them. The rest of the story is told from the perspectives of the cake and the cloak over the ages.