Viriginia records the events of her life as her family moves to New York City in the aftermath of the Civil War, and she begins to dream of a life in the theater.
After a well-known director, who also has a way of crushing dreams, announces he will be holding auditions for his summer theater program, Bryan decides he will do whatever it takes to be chosen.
Nicholas Bracewell and the Westfield Men sail for Denmark with their widowed patron, Lord Westfield, who has been enticed into marriage with Sigbrit Olsen, and soon find themselves embroiled in political intrigue and religious dissension.
After Boolar is asked to join a puppet theater, he forgets about the dolls and mice who have been his family, until a crisis helps him regain perspective.
