Pinocchio's Ashes tells a gripping story filled with melancholy, poetry and dark humor. It is set in the city of Kongstad, where a national ban has been imposed on art and culture. Judge Wolff enforces the ban by ordering severe punishments of those secretly practicing art. When an informant finds a Pinocchio doll in the workshop of local cabinet-maker Werner Brown, he reports the crime to Wolff, who sentences Brown to have his right hand cut off.