To escape her demanding, sick mother and her suburban loneliness, a middle-aged woman slides into a fantasy world in which there is incredible relief.

In the London of 1537, two boys resembling each other exactly meet accidentally and exchange "roles" for a short while. After many adventures, the prince regains his rightful identity and graciously makes his "twin" a ward of the court.

Supported avidly by his mother and more reluctantly at first by his father, a working-class Austrian boy joins the Vienna Choirboys, where he proves to be unusually talented.