Five year-old Marusia and her siblings leave their native America with their widowed mother for a better life in the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. Marusia learns about her Ukrainian heritage and traditions from her grandmother, Baba. Adjustments are going well until two months later and the onset of WWI. The once happy family now faces marauding soldiers, starvation, and the loss of their mother. How will they survive in this hostile environment? Who will take care of them? Maybe the village gypsy knows the answers.