In Eastern Europe, around 1750, the adventures of a small drum of the armies of the archduke, aged fourteen, during one of the wars which opposed in this region Greeks, Prussians and Turks. Separated from his companions, he walks through Europe hidden in a barrel. - Gaspard escapes the enemies who pursue him by taking refuge in an abandoned barn where he meets a six-year-old girl whom he calls Carrot. She has lived there, solitary, for an indefinite time, feeding on seeds and pigeon eggs. The two children sympathize. Carrot helps Gaspard hide in a barrel. Shortly after, the soldiers enter the barn, and seeing that barrel so heavy and so closed, they carry it with them, convinced that it contains a treasure. Thus begins the adventures of Gaspard.
