Thirteen-year-old Halina Rudowski narrowly escapes the ghetto after her mother is taken by the Nazis. With the help of a family friend, Halina joins an encampment of men, women, and children who live in underground bunkers in the forest of western Poland. As the group struggles for food, handles in-fighting, and attempts to protect themselves from the advancing Germans, Halina experiences hardships of her own. Her friend Reuven has yet to return from a mission to gather food, and she's determined to venture out of the camp to find him. This is not just an historical novel about the Holocaust, but a fluid, gripping coming-of-age story about a girl living in extraordinary circumstances.