Gabriel and his parents run a crumbling hotel, with its permanent residents. Dodging leaks, he serves breakfast daily to Mr. Jama, the sleepwalker; Miss Kent, the elderly Englishwoman; the Molotov twins; and his favorite, Grandma Beflat. They say she's crazy when she claims to be the exiled queen of Beflattistan, but Gabriel enjoys her company. She tells him stories of her tiny country, invaded by the armies of its very big neighbor. One sad day, the hotel collapses. They all pitch in to put it back together, but must soon resign themselves to saying goodbye. Just then, a long procession turns up... Beflattistan has been liberated! And Simone the 23rd's subjects have come to ask her home.