Fourteen-year-old Daniel is on a train with his mom, dad, and 12-year-old sister, Erika. He feels like he did when he was 10 and a soccer ball hit him in the face—he’s confused. The Germans put him, his family, and over a thousand other Jewish people on a train from their hometown, Frankfurt. Germans don’t want Jews in their country, and Daniel has no idea where he’s going.

His mom, Ruth, and dad, Joseph, speak quietly, and his sister is creating a song for her violin, so Daniel takes out a photo album and reviews the pictures. There’s a family photo Uncle Peter (his favorite uncle) took on Daniel’s sixth birthday. Uncle Peter’s wife is Auntie Leah—Ruth’s older sister. They have four rambunctious children under the age of five: Friedrich (five), Mia (four), Gertrude (two), and Brigitte (one). The quartet knocks over Daniel’s castle, and his mom tells him not to get upset with them.

Ruth’s younger brother, David, is in the photo, and so are Leo, Walter, and Aaron—Joseph’s brothers. Walter says they should go to Palestine, but Daniel’s parents disagree, and his mom reminds everyone that her family has been in Germany for over 600 years.