Born to a secure, middle-class Polish Jewish family, seventeen-year-old Reuven works alongside his father, an artisan businessman whose shop creates the finest handmade umbrellas in Poland. But the family's peaceful life shatters when the Nazis invade their homeland, confiscate their business, evict them from their home, and strip away their rights. The only chance to survive is escape. Fleeing a Nazi ambush, Reuven is found by a local farmer who agrees to help because he needs the boy to work the farm with him. The farmer's wife, however, is not as kind. Her betrayal forces Reuven to escape. He embarks on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside.