Hans Christian Andersen

Imaginative cobbler Hans Christian Andersen (Danny Kaye) is asked to leave his hometown because his frequent stories are distracting the children from school. From there he moves to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he sees and falls in love with Doro (Jeanmaire), a ballerina. He writes "The Little Mermaid" for her, and it becomes the ballet's latest work. However, Doro is already married to Niels (Farley Granger), meaning Hans must content himself with producing popular children's stories.