Caught in a vicious storm, Richard Tyler crashes his bicycle into a tree, leaving him disoriented and shaken. After a short recovery period, he gets his wits about him and goes to the nearest building, which happens to be the city library. But this is no run-of-the-mill library. This library is a scary world of fantasy, horror and adventure, teeming with classic animated villains such as Long John Silver, Mr. Hyde and Humpty Dumpty. These characters have arisen from the books lying and flying about. The librarian, an enigmatic man called The Pagemaster, informs Richard that in order to return to the outside world of reality, he must find the library exit.

As Richard Tyler you must run and jump your way through many levels of bats, ghosts, pirates, skeletons, fire creatures, and other nasties from the world of literature. In addition to jumping on top of and over your enemies, you'll find weapons such as gooey eyeballs, a pirate's sword, and magic dust. To help you in your quest through the magic library, you'll find magic shoes for jumping power, sticky hands for enhanced climbing ability, helmets for temporary invincibility, skulls for extra height, and of course books, which have several purposes. At the end of each level, a 3D bonus flying game puts you in the air collecting gold tokens (100 gives you an extra life) and magic dust. If you survive until the end of the bonus world you'll receive a special reward, usually an extra life.