Cora Roberts, aged 11 ½, lives next door to Dr. Wild, a reclusive inventor, and his sister Joan. Joan has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. The Roberts and the Wilds households have been in conflict for years. One night, Cora observes Joan feeding the stars in the Wilds'' unkempt garden. Armed with photographic evidence, a belief in the influence of the stars and a desire to become rich and famous, Cora persuades her best friend Sita to help her prepare some bait to capture the stars. At the point at which they manage to trap a jar full, they are disturbed, panic and separate. Cora gets home, but Sita is lost amongst the strange shadows in the Wilds’ garden. Armed with the stars, Cora returns to the garden. In her attempts to find Sita she is thwarted by who she meets. Will Cora ever find her friend again? Reality shapes fantasy, and fantasy impacts reality in this wise tale of hope, friendship, and light versus dark.