The story begins in a provincial German town called Neustadt, home to 12-year-old schoolboy Emil Tischbein. His father has died and his mother is raising him alone while working as a hairdresser. She sends Emil to Berlin to stay with his aunt and grandmother, bestowing on him 140 marks, a sum that has taken some months to save from her modest earnings. On the way, he is very careful not to lose the money and pins it to the lining of his jacket using a sewing needle.