Papa dies leaving Dave and his brother, Gideon behind. Gideon is adopted by their Uncle Jack, but no one wants Dave, so he ends up in the Hebrew Home for Boys or, as the inmates call it, the "Hell Hole for Brats." Dave is faced with20a difficult situation. He would run away, but Mr. Doom has confiscated his set of carved animals, the one thing he has left of his father. The world of the home is stark, and Dave turns to his own resources to find some goodness in the scarcity around him.