The movie begins in the year 1938, where the story of a girl is being told by a voice that represents as death. The girl, who grew interest for reading books and she eventually became a writer. Leslie, in her young age, is travelling with her mother and brother in a train. Unfortunately, her brother dies and he is buried next to the tracks. The girl steals a book that falls from the pocket of the gravedigger.
It’s the first book that she steals, and when she is taken to her foster parents named Rosa Hubermann and Hans Hubermann, they admit her into a school. On her first day she is insulted by all her classmates as she could not read a single word. Her foster father teaches her to read and she learns everything very soon. Her interest in reading grows more and more and she gets captivated by everything she read.