A coming-of-age story during the Russian Revolution and WW1. Katarina yearns to leave the Land of the Mennonites and become a missionary school teacher. But after a devastating accident her life is forever altered. As her awareness of the Russian crisis in Ukraine grows, she senses that there is more trouble brewing within the German colonies. Emigration looms and Katarina must make a decision. But Anna is pregnant and the men are serving in the war. What will she do?

In the parallel story, In 1951 post-war Germany Peter finds his mother's diaries and begins to transcribe them and learns about her time as a woman alone in war-time.

This book is a prequel for the series Russian Mennonite Chronicles.