Director Lynn Roth establishes right up front that the British mandate in Palestine is considered only temporary by Jewish settlers, and they’ll do almost anything to shorten it even more. So even adolescent Proffi and his buddies are planning to blow up a British army truck with a homemade explosive device.

One day, Proffi is caught out after curfew by Sgt. Dunlap, who instead of hauling him off to jail takes him home and invites the boy to visit him at the army barracks. Seeing this as an opportunity to gain intelligence about British movements, Proffi accepts Dunlop’s offer, then finds that the sarge is an all-around nice guy who wants to learn Hebrew and is studying the Old Testament. The two soon become friends, though Proffi keeps this information from his family and the neighborhood kids.