[4] After five-year-old Paulette's parents and pet dog die in a German air attack on a column of refugees fleeing Paris, the traumatized child meets 10-year-old Michel Dollé whose peasant family takes her in.

The two attempt to cope with the death and destruction that surrounds them by secretly building a small cemetery among the ruins of an abandoned watermill,[4] where they bury her dog and start to bury other animals, marking their graves with crosses stolen from a local graveyard, including one belonging to Michel's brother.

[4] In December 1952, at the 24th National Board of Review Awards it was chosen as one of that year's five top foreign films.

Decades after its release, David Ehrenstein called it "deeply touching" and wrote: "Fossey's is quite simply one of the most uncanny pieces of acting ever attempted by a youngster.

"[8] The main theme of the soundtrack is a guitar arrangement of the melody "Romance," performed by Narciso Yepes.