Marcello, a ten-year-old, inquisitive petty theif, works in a petrol station in North Milan. He lives with his uncle because his parents are dead. One day, a coach full of tourists stops on the parking lot and Marcello slips inside the vehicle to steal things. However, caught unawares, he hides on board the bus that sets off for Zurich. Alone in a foreign city, he ends up at the luxury hotel, the "Baur au Lac" where he slips into suite fifty-four, occupied by Nick who lies in a drunken stupor on the bed. Marcello starts exploring the place when Wanda turns up to warn Nick that Franky, a moneylender he owes money to, has arrived...