In this book we are introduced to a little boy, who is sent to boarding school when his mother has a mental breakdown. On the first night of boarding school, the little boy is woken up in the middle of the night and urinated on by the Judge and the jury(this is how the little boy refers to them) because he is a Rooinek and all of the other students are Boers and hate Rooineks. In the morning, he wakens to find that he urinated in his bed, and when he washes off the Judge and jury discover his hatless "snake", and from that moment on the little boy's name becomes "Pisskop." Pisskop eventually overcomes his bed wetting, but with news of Hitler's doings, the Judge and jury decide they want to become Nazis, and their first prisoner is Pisskop. Pisskop undergoes many torture sessions, and discovers ways to lesson them by helping the Judge with school. When the end of the year comes, all is not well, the chickens on his grandpa's field are disease ridden and his grandpa has to sell the farm and move to a town. On Pisskop's journey to the new town he is given a new name, Peekay, and discovers his dream of becoming the welterweight champion. But when he gets to town, he learns of a drastic change in lifestyle, and he must learn to adapt.