Five boys are preparing for their school Christmas play: conscientious Martin, too poor to pay for his train fare home at the end of term; Johnny, whose parents have left him and who’ll have to stay at school over the holidays; Matthew, strong, thick-skinned and good-natured, looking forward to the punching ball he’s been promised for Christmas; sensitive and fearful Uli; and intelligent, complicated Sebastian, who thinks that Christmas is overrated but is happy to play along. Meanwhile, a rival boys’ school is threatening their peace and their housemaster’s mysterious falling-out with an old friend, who lives in a (non-smoking) railway carriage, demands to be explained and rectified.

Both quietly melancholic and very funny, this is a story about the fun, adventure and worries, both small and serious, that are the reality of childhood days.