Two little girls - Maria and Mirabella - go to the woods for a walk and encounter several magical characters, among them a frog with his feet frozen in ice, a fireworm whose shoes keep catching fire, and a butterfly who's afraid of flying. To help their new friends, the girls must carry them to a sorceress who lives deep in the forest.

An aspiring astronaut prepares his ship for take-off, plugs in a razor and causes a blackout. In the deep darkness the boy imagines himself meeting the literary characters who have enthralled readers past with their stories of space travel.