This movie tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss between two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie - until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Louis Malle's own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

This autobiographical recounting of Malle's most tragic memory begins in 1944 at an all-boy Catholic school. A young boy befriends a new student whom the others feel is different. When he discovers the new student is a Jew, he tells no one and remains a true friend. Tragedy strikes when a school employee tells the Gestapo they are hiding Jews and the student is arrested and taken away.