In the first scenes of the film we see Bruno running through Nazi German. When Bruno finds his way home we are introduced to his family of four, his mother (Elsa), father (Ralf) and sister (Gretel). He is then told that the family is moving to the border of Poland, this then leads to the conflict.
The conflict involves the family now moving to Poland with Bruno being very much against it because he would have to leave his friends. We are shown the house, resembling a prison being surrounded by a tall gate and soldiers. The houses interior is dark and claustrophobic, again resembling a prison rather than a house. Bruno look out one of the windows in the house to see what he thinks is a farm with strange people working there in pyjamas. This is in fact a concentration camp.
The rising action includes a lot of minor scenes, most notably are when the mother found out why there is smoke coming from the concentration camp. As well as when Bruno sneaks of to what he thinks is a farm in the hope to make new friends.