Victor got a raw deal:his parents were victims of the Vel'D'Hiv roundup (1942),and he had to flee France ;in 1947,back in Paris,the young Jew 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-do.