Part one

The protagonist - eight-year-old Remy - lives in a French village, alone with his mother, whom he calls mother Barberen. Her husband, mason Barberen, lives and works in Paris. Remy does not remember that he once came home. Once with work, an accident happens with Barberen and he gets to the hospital.

To receive compensation, Barberen sues the owner. His wife has to sell the cow, the breadwinner, to pay legal fees, but the Barberen court loses and returns home. Having become crippled, he can no longer work.

With the return of Barberin, Remy with horror learns that he is not his own son, but adopted. Once Barberen found a five-month-old baby on the street, on whose clothes tags were cut. Barberen suggested taking the boy to him until his parents were found. Judging by the clothes, the child was from a wealthy family and Barberen was counting on a good reward. Then the Barberen family had their own son, and Barberen's wife was able to feed the two. But the son of Barberenov soon died, and the woman became attached to Remy, forgetting that he was not a native child. Now Remy is becoming a burden and Barberen demands that his wife give him to a shelter.

Barberen, succumbing to the persuasion of his wife, decides to ask the village administration for benefits for Remy. But he meets a wandering artist Vitalis, wandering with a monkey and three dogs, making his living in circus performances. Vitalis offers to buy Remy from Barberin, in order to make him his assistant. Not letting the boy say goodbye to the woman whom he loves as a mother, Barberen sells Remy.

Traveling with Vitalis, Remy has to suffer from hunger and cold, but the artist turns out to be a kind and wise man, and Remy loves his master with all his heart. Vitalis taught the boy to read, write, count, showed the basics of musical notation.

Vitalis and Remy come to Toulouse. During the performance, the policeman demands to put on muzzles on the dogs. Having been refused, the law enforcement officer sends Vitalis to jail for two months. Now the master of the troupe is Remy. Not having enough experience, the boy earns almost nothing and the artists have to starve.

Once, while rehearsing with animals on the river bank, Remy sees a woman who floats on it on a yacht. Next to the woman is a boy bedridden. The owners of the yacht liked the wandering artists, and after learning their story, the woman offers to stay with them to entertain her sick son Arthur. The woman turned out to be an Englishwoman named Mrs. Milligan. She tells Remy that her eldest son disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The husband was near death at this time, and his brother, James Milligan, began to search for the child. But he was not interested in finding a child, since in the case of a brotherless child, he inherits the title and fortune. But then Mrs. Milligan gave birth to a second son, who was weak and painful. The mother’s love and care saved the boy, but he is bedridden due to hip tuberculosis.

While Vitalis is in prison, Remy lives on a yacht. He is imbued with love for Mrs. Milligan and Arthur, for the first time in his life he lives calmly and carefree. He sincerely envies Arthur that he has a loving mother. Mrs. Milligan and Arthur really want Remy to stay with them, but Remy cannot leave Vitalis. Mrs. Milligan writes a letter to Vitalis, so that after his release he would come to them on a yacht.

No matter how they ask the Milligans to leave Remy with them, Vitalis does not agree, and Remy begins a life full of wanderings and hardships again. They spend one of the winter nights in the forest cabin of the lumberjack. Two dogs go into the forest and disappear. The troupe loses two artists, and already meager earnings fall. Soon, a monkey dies from the cold.Vitalis gets the idea that this is a punishment for not leaving Remy with Mrs. Milligan.

Now, with only one dog, Vitalis and Remy come to Paris. There Vitalis decides to send Remy to his acquaintance Italian Garafoli, so that he will teach the boy to play the harp, and he will give music lessons and teach new dogs.

At Garafoli, Vitalis and Remy are met by an ugly boy of about ten named Mattia. Vitalis leaves Remy with him, and he goes on business. While Vitalis was absent, Mattia said that he was an Italian from a poor family, Garafoli took him to his disciples. The boys sing and play on the streets, and give the proceeds to their teacher. If they do not bring enough money, Garafoli beats them and does not feed them. At this time, the disciples of Garafoli come, and Remy sees how cruelly they are treated. During the flogging of one of the students, Vitalis comes and threatens Garafoli with police. But in response, he hears the threat to name one name, and Vitalis will have to blush with shame.

Vitalis takes Remy, and they again go to wander. One night, exhausted from hunger and cold, Remy falls asleep. The gardener Aken finds him a little alive and brings him to his family. He also tells the terrible news: Vitalis is dead. Hearing the story of Remy, Aken invites him to live with them. His wife died, and the gardener lives with four children: two boys and two girls. The younger Lisa was dumb. At four, she was speechless due to illness.

To establish the identity of Vitalis, a policeman with Remy and Aken turn to Garafoli. Vitalis's real name was Carlo Balzani, he was one of the most famous opera singers in Europe, but left the theater due to loss of voice. He sank lower until he became a dog trainer. Proud of his past, Vitalis would have preferred death rather than disclosed his secrets.

Remy stays with Aken. He, along with family members, works in the garden. The gardener and his children are very attached to the boy, especially Lisa.

Two years have passed. Misfortune falls on the gardener's family - a hurricane broke the flowers that Aken sold, and the family is left without a livelihood. Aken also has nothing to repay a long-standing loan, and he is imprisoned for five years in a debt prison. Relatives take the children to themselves, and Remy has to take his dog and become a vagabond artist again.

Part two

Arriving in Paris, Remy accidentally meets Mattia there. He learns from him that Garafoli beat one of his students to death and was sent to prison. Now Mattia also has to roam the streets. The boys decide to give concerts together. Mattia plays the violin perfectly, and her earnings are much higher. Along the way, he will manage to receive music lessons and improve his game. Remy wants to buy a cow for mother Barberen.

Having earned money, the boys choose a cow and bring it to the Barberens. Foster mother all this time yearned for Remy. She tells him that Barberen is now in Paris. He met a man who was looking for Remy on behalf of his family. Remy and Mattia decide to go to Paris.

In Paris, Remy finds out about the death of Barberin, but in a dying letter to his wife, he told the address of Remy's parents who live in London. Remy and Mattia go to London.

At the address indicated, the boys find a family named Driscoll. Family members: mother, father, four children and grandfather, are absolutely indifferent to the child found. Only father speaks French. He tells Remy that he was stolen by a girl who decided to avenge that Remy's father did not marry her. Since Mattia speaks English, Remy communicates with his family through him.

Mattia and Remy are sent to sleep in the barn. The boys notice that some people come into the house, bring in things that the Driscoll family carefully hide. Mattia realizes that the Driscolls are stolen buyers. When he reports this to Remy, he is horrified. The boys suspect that Remy is not their son at all.

The Driscoll family is unable to feed two more, and Remy and Mattia give a performance on the streets of London. Driscoll's attention is drawn to the dog Remy. He demands that his sons walk along the street with her. For a few days the boys perform on their own, but one day the father permits Mattia and Remy to take the dog with him. Suddenly, the dog disappears, and returns with silk stockings in his teeth. Remy realizes that the Driscoll boys taught the dog how to steal. Father explains that this is a stupid joke, and it will not happen again.

To resolve his doubts, Remy writes a letter to mother Barberen with a request to describe the clothes in which he was found. Having received the answer, he asks his father, but he gives the same description of things. Remy is terrified: is it really people who are completely indifferent to him, and is his family?

One day a stranger comes to Driscoll. Mattia overheard the conversation, tells Remy that this is James Milligan, the brother of Mrs. Milligan's late husband, Uncle Arthur. He also reports that thanks to his mother’s concerns, Arthur has recovered.

In the summer, the Driscolls set off to trade around the country, taking with them Mattia and Remy. Seizing the moment, the boys run away and return to France. There they decide to find Mrs. Milligan. During the search, the boys get into the village where Lisa lives. But Lisa was not there. Relatives attached the girl to live with a rich lady who floats on the river on a yacht.

Mrs. Milligan with Arthur and Lisa the boys find in Switzerland. To the delight of Remy, Lisa began to speak. Fearing James Milligan, Mattia first meets with Mrs. Milligan. The boys settle in the hotel and a few days later Mrs. Milligan invites them to her. Mother Barberen is there. She brings the clothes Remy was found in. James Milligan is also invited there. Mrs. Milligan represents Remy as her eldest son, who was stolen by Driscoll at the command of James Milligan.

Many years later. Remy lives happily with his mother, who is still beautiful, with his wife Lisa and her young son Mattia, who is nursed by mother Barberen.

Remy's closest friend is Mattia, now a famous musician. He often comes to visit Remy and plays the violin, and then their old dog, as before, goes around the audience with a cup to collect money.