A young German boy is sent to an orphanage in Yugoslavia. The director of the school alters the boy's papers to insure he is not hounded for being German; although the war is over, anti-Nazi sentiment runs rampant among the boys at the school. The newcomer's background is revealed when he and the other boys get drunk. When he plays a Teutonic tune on his harmonica, he is accused of being German. The hapless harmonica player is put on trial by the other boys, interrogated, and nearly killed while the director remains helpless to stop the proceedings. It will take time and patience to change the orphans from readily accepting and acting out the violence they have known all their lives.