It is surrounded by a barbed wire fence, and he sees, to his surprise, people wearing stripped pajamas inside it. Intrigued, Bruno visits often and soon becomes friends with a little boy named Shmuel on the other side of the fence. Bruno's natural curiosity leads him to explore his new surroundings, even though his father forbids it, and this exploration allows him to grow as a character because he comes face to face with a very different world than the comfortable one he has enjoyed all his life.
