Emil grows up the creature of two worlds: the safe, clean, respectable world of parents and school, and another world - a place of danger and mystery, servants' gossip and ghost stories, the dark currents that run under the surface. As he struggles between light and darkness, only the guidance of his friend and mentor Max Demian can lead him on a journey towards self-realization, in Hesse's fable of adolescent awakening and spiritual enlightenment.