Two orphaned children are on the run in Venice, hiding among the crumbling canals and misty alleyways. Befriended by a gang of street children and their mysterious leader, the Thief Lord, they shelter in a disused cinema. On their trail are a bungling detective and a cruel aunt. But a greater threat to the boys' new-found freedom is something from a forgotten past : a beautiful magical treasure with the power to spin time itself.
