Enchanted is a novel by fantasy writer Orson Scott Card. In this novel, Ivan Smetski is only ten years old when his father decides to embrace their Jewish religion in order to move his son from Kiev to America. During a brief stay at a cousin's farm, Ivan finds what appears to be a sleeping woman in the middle of a chasm. Years later, Ivan returns to the chasm to see for himself that it was only a fantasy. However, Ivan is surprised to find that the girl really exists and is being held captive by a large bear. Ivan wakes the girl and goes into her world, beginning an adventure that will take him physically and emotionally beyond anything he has ever believed himself capable of. Enchanted is a modern fairy tale that relies heavily on the Russian fairy tales that often ended badly for the prince and his princess, leaving the reader on pins and needles until the final pages.

Ivan is ten when his father tells him that he must be circumcised and embrace their Jewish heritage. Ivan refuses until he sees his father undergo the circumcision that he has so dreaded. After Ivan's surgery, his father begins to arrange for the family to leave Ukraine, to escape the oppression of the Russian government and embrace the freedoms of America. However, it takes time for the visas to come through. Ivan and his family find themselves homeless and left to the mercy of family and friends. Eventually they come to live with Cousin Marek for several months as they await their future.

Ivan runs, often running for miles and miles each day. Ivan discovers the soft leaf bed of the forest and enjoys running through the trees. One day, Ivan discovers what appears to be a perfectly round meadow with a raised portion in the center. On the raised portion, Ivan catches a glimpse of a pretty woman. At the same time, Ivan sees a motion in the leaves around the raised portion, revealing a chasm. Ivan becomes frightened of the creature in the chasm and runs away. A short time later, Ivan's family leaves for America.

Ivan becomes a star athlete and a scholar like his father. When Ivan graduates from college and begins working on his master's, his father suggests he pick a title for his dissertation that he can research in his native Ukraine. Ivan is resistant at first because he has become engaged to a nice Jewish girl, but later agrees. Ivan spends more than a year in Kiev studying Russian fairy tales, often forgetting write letters home to his mother and fiancée. When Ivan is done, he decides to visit his Cousin Marek and put to rest the nightmares he has had from the chasm in the forest.

Shortly after arriving at Cousin Marek's, Ivan finds himself at the chasm. Ivan discovers a bear in the chasm guarding the beautiful girl. Ivan manages to hit the bear in the head, causing it to lose and eye and distracting it long enough for Ivan to jump onto the platform where the girl rests. Ivan wakes the girl with a kiss and she instructs him to propose marriage. When she accepts, the bear disappears.

The girl takes Ivan across a bridge only she can see and to her home village. There Ivan learns he must marry the girl who the evil Baba Yaga will steal her kingdom. However, on the day Ivan and Katerina are married, a friend overhears a plot to kill Ivan. Katerina and Ivan run away to Ivan's time. There, they discover that Ivan's mother is a witch and she knows many spells that help Katerina in the fight again Baba Yaga.

Back in Katerina's time, Ivan and Katerina wage their own battles against Baba Yaga. Ivan gives Baba Yaga's husband, Winter Bear, a message from his mother's teacher that breaks the bond between them. Baba Yaga loses a great deal of her power, making Katerina stronger than her. Katerina defeats Baba Yaga, forcing her to leave the area. Katerina and Ivan later have four babies and raise them in both worlds.