Adapted from Tanaka Yoshiki's 1990 fantasy novel, this adventure drama film is set in Apfelland, a small, lovely country bordered by Russia, Austria and Germany. Vel, a boy from the capital, Charlottenburg, comes to the aid of Frida, a girl who was abducted after radium turned up in her grandfather's disused mine. The discovery draws a crowd of schemers: an American out to get rich, a Polish woman who disguises herself as a man to raise funds for the revolution, and Apfelland's own ministry, which is plotting an alliance with Germany. Because Vel and Frida know the mine's secret, they end up entangled in all of these plots.