the novel begins in 1939 with the arrival of 19-year-old josef "joe" kavalier as a refugee in new york city, where he comes to live with his 17-year-old cousin, sammy klayman. with the help of his mentor, kornblum, joe escapes nazi-occupied prague by hiding in a coffin. joe leaves behind the rest of his family, including his younger brother thomas. as the novel develops, both joe and sammy find their creative niches, one entrepreneurial, the other's artistic. beyond having a shared interest in drawing, the duo share several connections to jewish stage magician harry houdini: josef (like comics legend jim steranko) studied magic and escapology in prague, which aided him in his departure from europe; sammy is the son of the mighty molecule, a strongman on the vaudeville circuit.