The Museum of Peculiar Arts holds many oddities—a mechanical heart, a diary bound in its owner’s skin…and Penny, a child-size marionette who almost looks alive. Fog clouds Penny’s memories from before the museum, but she catches glimpses here and there: a stage, deep red curtains, long-fingered hands gripping her strings.

One day, a boy named Chance touches Penny’s strings and hears her voice in his head. Penny can listen, and watch, and think?

Now someone else is watching Penny and Chance—a man with a sharp face, a puppeteer who has the tools to change things. A string through a needle. A twist of a spindle. And suddenly Chance is trapped in Penny’s marionette body, while Penny is free to run and dance. She knows that finding a way to switch back is the right thing to do. But this body feels so wonderful, so full of life! How can Penny ever return to her puppet shell?