In 1950s England, shipments of 20,000+ books arrive from Shanghai addressed to 12-year-old boy Michael's father, a Jewish man. It is a massive collection of Hans Andersen's fairy tales in all different languages. At first, Michael's family doesn't know who is sending the books, and there is no response for letters to the sender. Soon, Michael's father's second cousin Hugo arrives in England with his wife Lotte and reveals himself as the owner of the collection. Hugo had escaped the Holocaust years back, fleeing from Austria to Shanghai. Having just emigrated to England, Hugo and Lotte are extremely poor, but Hugo refuses to sell his collection even for huge sums of money—causing tension between the couple. One day, Michael receives a limited edition Hans Andersen book from his father's co-worker, and Hugo offers him lots of money for it. Finally, Hugo receives a letter that convinces him to sell the collection, and Lotte is ecstatic. Before selling it, Hugo gives Michael one of the books, saying he must keep it forever. Michael overhears Hugo telling his father that the book belonged to Hugo's son, who was captured by the Nazis along with Hugo's first wife. Years later, Michael finds Hugo's son's annotations in the book.