The story is about Abel Tiffauges, who attends the Saint-Christophe boarding-school where he meets Nestor, a privileged student who will take him under his wing and adore him so much as to let him indulge his obsessions.

Then, he is taken prisoner and deported throughout Germany and Poland in East Prussia (German region that corresponds to the current Kaliningrad Oblast/Königsberg in Western Russia).

He saves Ephraïm, a Jewish boy who came from a Lithuanian camp and escapes while carrying him on his back through swamps.

The novel ends with the following sentence: Quand Abel leva pour la dernière fois la tête vers Ephraïm, il ne vit qu'une étoile d'or à six branches qui tournait lentement vers le ciel noir.

[When Abel lifted his head to gaze at Ephraïm for the last time, all he saw was a six-pointed golden star rotating slowly towards the black sky.]