Living during the bleakest period of Communist rule in Poland, the two young brothers have seen their parents suffer badly at the hands of local officials. One day, while they are out playing, they whimsically decide to hide underneath a passing freight truck and see where it will take them. In their journey, they pass from the gloom of Poland into the bright lights of Denmark, and are greeted by the rigidly stern Danish authorities, who put them in a refugee camp and are apparently trying to decide whether to grant the demands of Polish officials that they be returned. Nonetheless, they get a chance to explore Copenhagen at Christmastime. They also get to talk with their parents back in Poland, who tearfully urge the boys to do their best to stay in Denmark, knowing that the authorities (who are surely listening to the call) will punish them for this.