In desperation brought on by near-starvation, Helge Roos kills his master's ox to feed his wife and baby daughter, setting off a devastating and unexpected chain of events.

The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.

While attending a retrospect of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.