Separated from his parents who are deported by the Nazis, David struggles to survive, alone, hungry and scared, until he eventually finds his way to the city of Warsaw. There he learns from other Jewish boys how to work in the black market, dodging the police and the Gestapo until the eventual day comes when the ghetto is cleared and everyone is herded into trains for the long trip to the camps. Will David survive? Can he outwit them one more time?

“Jakob!” he shouts, and Jakob turns round and waits for him as people pass. David lets the suitcase drop, pointing at it, and Jakob nods, he understands. Quickly they put Jakob’s bundle on top of the suitcase and then lift it up together. They start to move. It’s not too bad. For a while. After the first kilometre in the biting cold, Isak Schlieferstein begins to limp, his bad leg’s troubling him. His suitcase falls from his grasp, but stubbornly he drags his bad leg after him. His wife throws away her bundle and supports him, and they go on together, but more and more slowly, until some time later, they’re hopelessly behind. A young man runs back to them, but is abruptly stopped by an SS man, who threatens him with his bayonet.