Thirteen-year-old Robert daydreams a lot, and when he rubs his eyes, he sees strange scenes. One typical evening when his parents are busy, he stares at a documentary on TV and falls into the picture.

He's landed in Siberia in 1956, and that is only the beginning of his visit to the past. Suspected of being a secret agent, he escapes through a movie screen to Australia in 1946. Each new adventure takes him further and further back in time.

As Robert meets his own young grandmother, a spirit-plagued teacher, a calculating princess, and bloodthirsty robbers, he covers close to four hundred years of history and ages two years himself. Then, in Amsterdam in 1621, he finally tries to find a way to reach his home in the future.