Woven around the daily lives of two children, nine-year-old Nastenka and five-year-old Katia, this is a story of the 17 months' siege of Leningrad and of the people and families shattered by the war, their homes bombed and destroyed, their lives in a constant anticipation of the advancing German army and air raids.

The mischievous Carlson and the gullible Kid are the heroes of a well-known fairy tale. Carlson loves to play pranks very much, and for all the consequences of pranks he has a "proprietary" excuse: "It's nothing, it's an everyday thing!".