Fran?ois Truffaut?s intensely touching story of a misunderstood adolescent is an indictment of the injustices of the criminal justice system?s treatment of juvenile offenders. The film follows the Parisian youth, Antoine Doinel, who grows up in poverty and neglect. Engaging in childish pranks, Antoine delves into a life of petty crime. When he steals a typewriter from his stepfather to pawn it, his parents turn him over to the police and he is left at the ?mercy? of the French judicial system.