A gripping novel about the fate of a young nurse takes place against the backdrop of post-war Czechoslovak history. A girl returns home from a concentration camp, a small non-speaking girl joins her near Dresden. After returning to the Czech Republic, she heads to a hospital in the border region with the little girl, where she finds a job. The two gradually get along and a mother-daughter relationship develops between them. They experience the wild post-war years, the expulsion of the Germans by the Red Guards and the rise of the communists, whose practices often remind the heroine of the years spent in the camp. Despite many difficulties, they both find a new home, friends and love here...