Paris in the year 1942. Looking forward to his summer holidays, the eleven-year old Joseph Weismann enjoys an untroubled life with his friends in Paris. But then the children have to carry yellow stars on their dresses. Also they are banned from visting cinemas, fairs and parks. Because Joseph and his friends are Jews. Although she suffers from the anti-Semitic policy of the Vichy regime, Joseph`s family tries to live on a normal life. Despite the German occupation, the Weismanns still feel save in France. In the early morning of 16 July 1942 their fragile luck gets finally destroyed. Joseph`s family and 13.000 other Jews are arrested during a roundup made by the French police and abducted to the Vélodrome D' Hiver. In oppressive heat they have to endure there several days without water, before they are finally deported to a concentration camp.