Mathilde Zasinger, nine years old, living in Paris, is a little girl like who would be like all others if she did not have a mother suffering from mental disorder. Madame Zasinger is a loving mother but her behavior is unfortunately erratic and unpredictable. She does strange things like wandering at night in a wedding dress or take the train all the way to Normandy not knowing why. The best thing she has ever done is to have given Mathilde a wonderful present, an owl which the faculty of speech. From the day the bird entered her life, the troubled little girl has had a friend and confidante that helps her bear the situation as best as she can.