The story begins in England:a wicked uncle wants to latch on to the Mulligan heritage and has got to get rid of all the male heirs;one of them-the other is a sick child called Arthur-Remi was to be killed by the kidnapper who took pity on him and entrusted him to the Barberin's safekeeping in France. Safekeeping? If the woman (Mere Barberin) is a loving mom,who makes crepes for her fostered kid,her husband is a crude brute ,whose affairs in Paris went wrong and left him an embittered man ,who does not want another mouth to feed;thus he sells Rémy to a busker who takes the boy on all the roads of the country with his troupe of animals :three dogs and a monkey.