Victor got a raw deal: his parents were victims of the Vel'D'Hiv roundup (1942) and he had to flee France. in 194, back in Paris, the young Jewish man is taken in by a second-hand goods dealer who becomes a true father to him. He also makes friend with a rich teenager his age. It's a depiction of those "sandwich years", the transition from childhood to adolescence in a suburban milieu, with its small dealings. Victor will discover that, whereas children make no distinction between social classes, grownups – here represented by uncle Jean – most surely do.