The Realm of Secondhand Soul is the story of Novena, a girl whose uncommon sensibilities cross the filmy boundaries of time and cultures. In the somewhere town of Nile Bay, the orphaned Novena is raised by her overwhelmed aunt Elegia along with her four voracious boy cousins. The youngest of the boys is the feral Zan, torturer of frogs and other helpless creature, who can never forgive Novena for usurping his place as the baby of the family. This is where Novena's true trials begin arid end, crystallizing with a tragic disappearance that haunts Novena as she seeks her fortune in the wider world. It is a wider world like our own, where nostalgia is paramount, and in an odd jumble of secondhand shops Novena finds her salvation.