It tells the story of his flight, as a small boy, with his brother Maurice to escape from Nazi occupied France to the Zone Libre.

The boys then spend four blissfully safe months in Menton with their brothers, Henri and Albert, before having to leave the town for Nice, where their parents are waiting.

But due to the surrender of the Italians, when they removed Mussolini in favor of Pietro Badoglio, and the arrival of the Germans in safe France, they have to flee quickly to "Moisson Nouvelle", a camp for boys run by the Vichy government.

The boys are safe here for a while, and make many friends, until one day when they accompany the lorry driver Ferdinand into Nice where he leads them, unintentionally, straight into a Nazi trap.

As the autumn turns to winter, Joseph and Maurice travel north to see their sister, where they learn that it is unsafe for them to stay; so they go to join their brothers in the Alpine resort of Aix-les-Bains.

A 2012 graphic novel adaptation by Kris and Vincent Bailly was nominated in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards as Best Reality-Based Work.