As a young teenager in Oradea, Romania, Hedy Bohm leads a sheltered life, oblivious to the events of World War II and the Holocaust. When Nazi Germany occupies Hungary in 1944, Hedy still feels relatively safe, even when she and her parents are forced into an overcrowded ghetto and then taken away in cattle cars. It is only when Hedy arrives in Auschwitz-Birkenau that she comes face-to-face with the bewildering and devastating reality of the Holocaust. But Hedy is determined to survive and reunite with her mother. Now totally alone, she finds within herself a resourcefulness and strength she didn't know she had.