The young student Nathanael remains haunted by his childhood fears: he is convinced that Coppelius a strange night-time visitor who used to come to his house to conduct alchemical experiments with his father - the latter dying as a consequence of one of those sessions - was none other than the Sandman a mythical figure who was said to steal the eyes of children who refused to go to sleep. When a mysterious Italian salesman with a beautiful daughter moves into town Nathanaels suspicions are reawakened pushing him to the brink of madness as extraordinary events unfold.
