-We flashback to when Marie is 6 years old. She is on a children's tour of the museum where her father works. She isn't blind yet but her eyesight is worsening.

-The tourguide reaches a corridor and stops in front of a locked iron door. He ends the tour and refuses to show the children what's behind the door (troll).

-A girl asks what's behind the door to which the tourguide answers that there are thirteen doors behind it. Each door is smaller than the one in front of it. Apparently there is some "Sea of Flames" behind the thirteenth door.

-The story of the "Sea of Flames" starts off with some dumb prince who picks up a random blue stone from a dry riverbed because he thought it was pretty. Unfortunately for him this stone had some bad luck because he was attacked by a bunch of horseback riders and was stabbed in the heart (sucks to suck). The riders stole his horse. rings and pretty much everything he had except for the stone (lucky for them they didn't see it). And for some reason even though he was stabbed in the heart this prince was able to crawl home. So he gets knocked out for ten days and and on the tenth day his health is completely restored like nothing ever happened to him (like nobody had ever stabbed him in the heart or anything).

-The prince's doctors figured that this stone must have some magical healing powers.

-The stone was then fitted into the prince's crown. People thought that it'd give him eternal life. It could actually give you eternal life but this stone was literally just a complete dickhead. The longer the prince had the stone the more bad things happened to the ones he loved.

-Within a month both of the prince's brothers died from drowning and snakebite. Within six months, the prince's father died of disease. And if things weren't bad already, some army is preparing to attack his country.

-The prince asks his father's advisors for help but being the asshole he is, he doesn't listen to the one advisor who tells him something he doesn't want to hear.

-This advisor tells him of the dream he had the other night about how the Goddess of the Earth made the stone for her lover the God of the Sea (awwww) and how she left it on the riverbank for him. The goddess was furious when the prince picked it up (I mean who wouldn't) and cursed the stone.

-The stone gives the owner eternal life but it will curse all of the owner's loved ones. But, if the owner throws the stone into the sea the curse will be lifted.

-Since this selfish prick of a prince didn't like what the advisor said, he had someone cut off the advisor's tongue and kept the stone. The invaders came and killed everyone in the country and the prince was never seen again.

-When the stone was found, its curse was rediscovered and people thought it'd be best for the stone to be locked up within a vault in the museum. It should not be opened for two hundred years.

-The year is 1934. It has been a hundred-ninety-six years since the stone was locked away.

-A month after the museum tour, Marie became blind.

-Marie's father was patient and made her the miniature model of the city and wooden puzzle box for her to solve. He also gives her books in braille. He helps her find her way around the city. He tells her that one day she'll have to find her way home without him. 

-Rumors start going around Paris about the Sea of Flames and how it'll be displayed. Marie asked her dad about the rumors but her dad always tries to avoid the topic (suspicious).

-The Germans are approaching and Marie becomes scared of having to leave the neighborhood she has gotten so used to. 

-Radio stations go down and everyone starts begins to leave Paris. After Marie's dad's  secret meeting with the museum director, Marie's dad packs and prepares to leave Paris with Marie. They wait for a train but no trains come. They end up walking a long distance in the dark. Marie's heels bleed and becomes exhausted so her dad settled down in a field to rest. Once Marie falls asleep, her dad takes out the Sea of Flames from his backpack. (crap!)

-Apparently, the museum director gave four people the Sea of Flames (three of which are just replicas so they wouldn't freak) hoping that it'd be kept safe from the Germans. Marie's father doesn't know that he has the real thing and tries to reassure himself that what he has is nothing more than a replica.

-We now flip to Werner when he was eight years old. He and his sister Jutta live in a orphanage called Children's House. Werner finds an old radio and teaches himself how to fix it. He continues to learn more about radios and receivers.

-When Werner is ten, two of the oldest boys in the orphanage return as members of the Hitler Youth. Werner now has a reputation in his neighborhood as a radio repairman. Werner thinks about a future with science but a Labor Ministry official visits the Children's House and crushes his dreams. He reminds the boys that everyone will have to work for the mines once they become fifteen.

-Soon, being part of the Hitler Youth becomes mandatory. He is now fourteen and has one more year to go before he gets sent to work in the mines. He gets a nightmare in which the mine is his tomb.

-After Werner repairs Herr Siedler's radio, a lance corporal comes to recruit Werner for General Heissmeyer's schools where he would be educated for free. The corporal writes a recommendation for the recruiting board in Essen. 

-The Nazi regime makes it illegal to listen to foreign radio broadcasts but Werner's sister continues to listen. Werner catches Jutta listening to a foreign broadcast and finds out that the German airplanes are bombing Paris. After Werner receives the opportunity of pursuing science, he returns home and destroys the radio Jutta listens to. He does this to prove to himself that he is now dedicated to the Nazi regime.