Berserk Button: People being exploited.One day, she is cursed by the Witch of the Waste, and seeks refuge in Howl's castle, where she makes a bargain with the fire-demon Calcifer to break Howl and Calcifer's contract in exchange for Calcifer breaking her curse. She works in her late father's hat shop as her stepmother, Fanny Hatter's apprentice. In the land of Ingary, this of course means that she is destined to never find her fortune, and live a very dull life at home. She is the eldest of three sisters (Sophie, Lettie, and Martha Hatter). She is a young lady living in the small town of Market Chipping in the fictional kingdom of Ingary. Sophie Hatter is the protagonist of the first book called Howl's Moving Castle.