Jessica is nine years old and lives with her single mother in post-war Stuttgart. Both parents used to work at the state theater, but her father has passed away. While her mother now works in broadcasting, Jessica escapes into her own world with imagined siblings and playmates. She often gets to be at the radio house and voice children's roles. A dream seems to come true when she is cast as Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The author tells the story of how the child manages to cope with loneliness, poverty, and hunger in a wonderfully light tone. "No one should recognize it anymore, no one should insult it - being disguised is like being enchanted.".