Books are the greatest happiness of the taciturn older man, who otherwise shies away from any contact with other people. On one of his rounds, nine-year-old Schascha follows in his footsteps. Carl reluctantly gets involved with the girl, who from then on accompanies him on his errands and calls him the “book walker”. Schascha quickly wins the hearts of Carl's regular customers and not only upsets their lives, but also makes Carl break out of his own world.