“There is a secret panel beneath the carpet in my bedroom. Under a hidden floorboard, there is money and a cache of diamonds, for emergencies like this. If you see that I am delayed returning, you will take Mamme and the rest of the family, along with the hidden valuables, and cross the river to find me.”

Amidst falling bombs and enemy approach, Tatte leaves Reginna with a mission to bring Mamme and the family across the San River to the relative safety of the Soviet side. She promises Tatte she will do it. She is sixteen years old.

Following Tatte’s instructions, she bundles her family away from the German invasion and crosses the river that now designates the border between Germany and Soviet Russia. She leaves her hometown of Yaroslav far behind. Withstanding loss and years of enforced imprisonment in Siberia, she is relentless in her quest of finding her beloved Tatte, of protecting her ill Mamme, and of keeping her family together. Never losing faith, she holds tight to her belief that the Aibeshter is with her. And that she and her family will survive.

Based on the true story of Rivkah bas Moshe Yosef