Since no Jew has ever come out alive from that building, Jacob faces a desperate situation. A sadistic joke, much like many others the Nazis perpetrated on their Jewish victims, yet Jacob Heym comes away with something for his trouble. But Jacob's knowledge creates a new dilemma for him. The effects of that hope on the ghetto are immediate and remarkable. Businessmen dream of future profits.
Lovers begin to imagine and to plan lives for themselves.
As the demand for new grows, though, the unimaginative Jacob must, through a series of ever-more elaborate lies, give voice to his imaginary radio. At one point he becomes so desperate for material, that when a guard, newspaper in hand, enters a Germans-only outhouse, and then leaves without it, Jacob risks being shot for a few scraps of news. Becker peoples his ghetto with a fascinating array of characters, each of whom makes demands on and sacrifices for Jacob. Most memorable is Lina, the orphaned girl who lives in Jacob's building. An escapee from a death transport, and cared for by Jacob, she desperately searches his apartment for the wondrous radio, the magical device she heard only once and which sounded remarkably like Uncle Jacob.