Chico Felippo is a young boy living in a small village in Southern Italy. It is 1944 and most of the war has moved north, but the American Army has a special "Remount Depot" nearby where donkeys are trained to assist the soldiers in the difficult mountain fighting. Chico loves these animals and becomes friends with many of the Americans as well as one particularly beloved animal, "Sergeant Donkey". The entire town suffers from a shortage of food because all of the donkeys which worked the fields had been seized by the Germans earlier in the war.

The Singing Tree, sequel to The Good Master, is a much more serious story and takes place during World War I. Sandor, Kate's father, is drafted into the war and eventually, the Good Master, Marton Nagy, must report as well. The majority of the book tells of how the family gets along during the war years without the men of the family. Of course, Jancsi the young master steps up and, aided by a journal his father left for him, manages the farm quite well.