In this bleak fairytale, a kind and good-natured learned man on vacation sends his shadow to investigate a balcony across the street. When his shadow never returns, he notices that he has grown a new one and figures all is well. However, five years later, he meets his original shadow, and it is now corporeal-but it doesn't share his principles. As the shadow grows in strength, the man weakens, raising the question of whether good always triumphs over evil.