Set against the terrors of a London torn apart by the onset of WWII, tells the story of 7 yr. old Billy who finds his childhood to be a time of great danger and even greater discovery. From thunderous bombings and the constant threat of Luftwaffe air raids to the landing of a German paratrooper in his neighborhood and the joyous obliteration of his much-hated school, Billy's young life is shaped by the one positive thing war has brought him: liberation from the ordinary.