Television adaptation of the novel by the Italian writer Italo Svevo. His hero is Zeno Cosini, the son of a merchant in Trieste. He is a type of useless person, defeated by life and incapable of action. The ironic insight with which the author draws a picture of the townspeople of Trieste at the turn of the century sounds like an accurate diagnosis of a social class that is doomed with its entire lifestyle and morality.

A wandering magician, capable of listening to the secrets of a child's soul, is able to create a magical land called San Jago di Campanella even in a secluded mountain hunting lodge. He arrives there just before Christmas and is able to give the children there a sense of well-being full of soothing fantasy.