Wim Knaup is a boy frequently bullied by his young neighbors in Ruhenheim because of his father being a good-for-nothing drunkard.

Wim works as pageboy at Hotel Versteck, running errands for Mr. Klaus Poppe. Whenever he gets his salary from running errands, he takes it home for his and his father's maintenance. Most of the time, his payment goes to his father's drinking vice. For this reason, he is always bullied by some kids on the neighborhood and steals his wages. Insults for his father makes him angry, even though most of those insults were right. One time, just after being bullied, a mysterious man meets him on the road and says to him, "Hey boy, don't you hate them? Don't you hate them enough, to kill them?"