The Thief Lord - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The Thief Lord follows the story of brothers, Prosper and Boniface (Bo), who run away to Venice, Italy. They are taken in by a group of orphans who live in an abandoned movie theater - the Stella, and are led by a proud "orphan" named Scipio. He appears to steal valuables and the orphan gang sells them to a sly old shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa. The runaway boys' aunt and uncle figure out where they are and set a detective, Victor Getz, on their trail. Victor recognizes the boys on the street and manages to initiate a conversation with innocent little Bo. When the rest of the children see him, they cause a distraction and run away, taking his wallet with them. In his search for the theater, Victor visits the home of Dottore Massimo, the owner of the Stella, where he sees Scipio.

When Victor arrives at the Stella, the children ambush him. When Prosper confronts Scipio, he learns that Scipio is indeed Dottore Massimo's son. While they are gone, Victor escapes, leaving a note that he will not reveal their location if they do not steal the precious lion's wing. The children leave that night to steal it.

Ida is awakened by the racket that the children make and confronts them with an old rifle. When they explain, Ida tells them the story of the wing, which came from a magical merry-go-round. It has the ability to change a person's age. She agrees to let them have the wing if they let her accompany them to the exchange. The next night, all of the children go for the deal except Hornet and Bo. They join Ida and Scipio, meet with the Conte and his sister, Morosina, and make the exchange. They follow the Conte through a maze of islands to one in particular called Ilsa Segrto. They watch the pair unload the wing and go inside. Suddenly Ida drops the binoculars she was using into the lagoon. The sound travels to the island and the Conte rushes out with a shotgun and two huge dogs firing away randomly into the night. The group speeds off and regroups at the pier. When they return to the theater, Hornet and Bo are gone, leaving a note that there were police at the door. They angrily confront Victor, who informs them that he did not direct the police's attention there. To add to the misery he tells them that the lire they received are fake.

While searching for Hornet and Bo, they find Hornet at an orphanage and manage to get her out. However, they did not find Bo at the orphanage. They spend a restless night at Ida's house, but Prosper cannot sleep and wanders outside, where he meets Scipio. He says that they are going to get the money that is rightfully theirs. They travel back to the island and get caught in the act of climbing a wall. The two end up locked up in a stinking stable on the island. Meanwhile, Victor receives a phone call from Esther, informing him that she had Bo, but that he had run away from them. Victor finds Bo at the Stella and takes him back to Ida's, where they find Prosper missing.

On the island the next morning, Scipio and Prosper meet the Conte and Morosina, who are both young children. They tell him that the magical merry go-round worked. Scipio demands a ride and comes off an adult. Just as he gets off the merry-go-round, Barbarossa, the man who found the Conte and hired the Thief Lord for the job of stealing the wing, arrives. However, while Barbarossa becomes a five-year-old boy, he accidentally breaks the merry-go-round. Scipio and Prosper leave after promising the Conte that they will not talk about the merry-go-round, and is Barbarossa forced to give the Conte all the money in his shop safe.

The next day, when everyone at Ida's home finds Prosper, Scipio, and Barbarossa they do not recognize Scipio or Barbarossa and Prosper cannot explain. Scipio sets up a meeting between Barbarossa and Esther. Esther adores Barbarossa and his manners and decides to adopt him. Prosper, Bo, and Hornet decide to live with Ida and go to school, while Mosca and Riccio live in an abandoned warehouse. Scipio decides to work for Victor.

Eventually, he and Prosper take another trip to the Isola Segreta only to find that the Conte and Morosina have disappeared. Esther eventually catches Barbarossa stealing her jewelry and other possessions and sends him off to boarding school, where he becomes a menacing bully; he forces other children to do things for him like his homework, encourages them to steal, and intimidates them to call him "The Thief Lord".