The Eye of the World begins in the little village of Emond's Field. Rand al'Thor, a simple sheep herder, is suddenly thrown into the midst of a huge tale of adventure that he never dreamed existed.

However this is completely swept away one day when two major events occur. A noble lady and her guard arrive in the village after having traveled from a distant location and then later in the evening monsters called trollocs, historically thought to have been a fairytale to scare children with, emerge from the night and attack the village. The noble lady and her retainer assist the villagers in defeating these monsters and then she introduces herself as Moiraine, an Aes Sedai, one who wields the true source and can perform seemingly miraculous feats with it which defy human reason.

Moiraine informs Rand al'Thor and his friends Matrim Cauthon and Perrin Aybara that the trollocs are actually searching for them. She claims that more will come searching and the village will be overrun as well as the boys captured and tortured or killed should they remain in Emond's Field. Thus Rand begins his greatest adventure and joins Moiraine with his friends in an epic flight which literally traverses the continent in an attempt to escape from the Trollocs.

Along they way, Rand and his friends are scattered by the pursuing trollocs. Rand travels with his friend Mat, and a mysterious gleeman who turns out to have been the former court bard to the royal house of Andor. As they are traveling to reunite with Moiraine and the rest of the group, Rand sneaks into the palace garden and has a chance encounter with the heiress to the throne. His presence everywhere stirs up excitement no matter where he seems to go.

Numerous times throughout the journey, strange phenomenons occur around Rand which he cannot explain but attributes to luck. However it soon becomes evident that there is more too this 'luck' and in a final battle with the evil darklord (classic I know) Rand al'Thor taps into the True Source and consciously channels it for the first time in order to successfully defeat his foe and rescue his friends.

The book concludes with those around Rand al'Thor beginning to realize that he is more than a simple farmer. While Rand al'Thor continues to deny the possibility of being the Dragon Reborn, he decides it is too late to go home and thus the journey continues into the sequel, The Great Hunt.