Pin, an orphaned cobbler's apprentice in a town on the Ligurian coast, lives with his sister, a prostitute and spends as much time as he can at a seedy bar where he amuses the adult patrons.

After stealing a pistol from a Nazi sailor, Pin searches for an identity with an Italian partisan group.

The title refers to Pin's secret hiding place, directions to which he touts as a prize to any adults who win his trust.

view the work as unexceptional, on the grounds that it fails to address the issues other than from a very naive perspective; others[who?]

credit it with being skillfully written and make a virtue of its portrayal of the complex emotions and politics of adults, as seen through the eyes of a child.