Michael Ende

Ophelia is a wizened old miss. She was supposed to become an actress, but her voice was too quiet, so she became a prompter instead. One day, however, her theatre is closed down. On the deserted stage, Miss Ophelia meets a shadow. He is lonely, as he belongs to nobody. The same is true for Ophelia, so she takes him into her home. This hospitality gets out and about among the shadows, and more and more want to move in with Ophelia. Soon she can open up her own shadow theatre. Until one day she meets an extraordinarily big shadow, bigger and darker than all the others...