Walking the rundown streets of his dockland neighbourhood searching for his cat, Stevie meets The Great Macaroni, a children's magician who spends his time trying to persuade his young audiences that his real magic is mere trickery. He teaches Stevie that nothing in this world is as it appears, that teaspoons can fly, and that the future is never set even if it has already happened. What he cannot tell him about are the two years of his life that Stevie will spend in absolute darkness.