When King Frack and King Frick divide their kingdom with a tall wall, Tamala and her brother send balloon messages over the wall to their beloved grandmother. Then Tamala decides her family can reach their grandmother the same way: in a hot-air balloon! The family gathers all the materials they will need: cloth for the balloon, straw for the basket. But where to find a gas burner? With spies everywhere, their work is extremely perilous. Nevertheless, Mother sews the material, Father weaves the basket, and Tamala and Abalon discover an old gas burner in a junkyard. After many nights of labor, their craft is ready and rises into the air. Guards on the wall spot them and fire their weapons, but the balloon sails safely over. Happily, they successfully reach their destination, just as two families from East Berlin did in 1979! An endnote ties this story to the dramatic true event