Schoolgirl Camilla Cream loves lima beans but is afraid to reveal this to her classmates. As a result, on the first day of school, she becomes ill with a seemingly incurable, yet colorful, disease called Stripes. Her body changes in outlandish ways to reflect how she believes she appears to others. She becomes covered in stripes, stars, and checkerboard patterns. Eventually, she turns less human-like and almost completely disappears in to her environment. Despite the sometimes comic failures of traditional and non-traditional medicine, her situation deteriorates. A little old lady cures Camilla by convincing her to eat the food she loves and to disregard what others think about her.