The Story
A modern fairy tale about grief and the power of love
When the Ice Came
In the kingdom of Iontach, young Prince George — just five years old — loses his parents, King Alexander and Queen Eloise, in a tragic accident on the day of his birthday Carnival.
The child's grief unleashes a mysterious magic that freezes the castle and all its inhabitants in ice, isolating it from the world for eighteen years.
George grows up alone with only his puppet Ciùciù and a robin named Picchi for company. He discovers an enchanted beach hidden in the castle's underground — a place suspended between dream and reality where he learns to live with his grief.
There, a family of three dogs — mother, father, and a puppy named Jo — becomes his only companionship for years that never seem to age him. When a storm nearly claims Jo's life, the two adult dogs sacrifice themselves to save him — and it is Picchi who reappears to guide George back toward the castle, on the very same day that Thalìa finally dares to cross into its forbidden grounds.
Long after, a curious girl named Thalìa — daughter of Anne, Queen Eloise's best friend — grows up beside a music box gifted by the late queen. Inside it, a tiny figurine grows alongside her and its melody shifts with her moods. Guided by it, Thalìa discovers the castle's secret and intuits that only by recreating the Carnival celebration can she free the prince from the ice into which his heart has sunk.
When the two finally meet, George is now a solitary young man, still dressed as a clown and wrapped in an eternal armor of ice. Only Thalìa's courage — and the courage of the entire village — can bring life back to the castle and break the curse.
But some curses run deeper than ice. And some hearts take longer to thaw than others. The question is not whether love can break the spell — but whether George is ready to let it.
