Will Antonia ever find her place in the world? In The Puppeteer's Daughter, the motherless seven-year-old collects nickels and dimes in 1950s Brooklyn Heights from the street urchins who frequent her Italian papa's Old World refrigerator box puppet theater. Riveted by the children's fascination, she decides to become a writer. Years later, as a journalist at The Village Voice and The New York Times, she plods through an obstacle course of passionate relationships while reporting on the struggles of people challenged by poverty, gender, race, and religion. As she strives to come to terms with the outer world, she reaches a deeper understanding of her loved ones and herself.