Pre-teen, shy Bavarian village boy Felix hears his father died on the front in World War II, so he's left with his mother. Luckily he becomes buddies with Karri, the cocky son of local Nazi boss Ortsgruppenleiter Feik 's son Karri and thus the petty tyrant's protege as well as a "war hero's heir". Karri drags Felix along in attempts to prove their bravery, terrorize rustic and even hunt down a deserter and a crashed US pilot. Felix already 'lacked toughness', but the deserter's true identity shakes his world, just in time as the war is lost and the Allies approach.