A 19th century school master comes to a small village to teach the local children and becomes the target of a prank when the town bully becomes jealous of the schoolmaster's attention to a woman whom the bully admires as well.
In the bright sunlight of opera buffa, a handsome Turkish prince (with an agile bass voice) lands on the coast of Naples looking for amorous adventures.
An allergy-ridden, eavesdropping sound engineer and his boisterous new roommate are thrust into a missing girl case when he discovers clues to her disappearance in his neighborhood recordings.
When Matthew explores the 'spiral' in his grandmother's garden (a strange structure built by his late grandfather) he discovers an entrance into the magical world of 'the Shadows' where he meets his new Shadow friends, Yorrick and Alice, and begins his great adventure.