The story of three cousins, who escaped from Germany, is told in three parts. Gerda flees to South Africa and awaits the arrival of her beloved parents. She writes to them in her journals, hoping that some day they will be reunited - but that day never comes. Her daughter, Joan, found the journals after her mother's death, and was deeply touched by the everyday notes jotted down during her pregnancy, and by her deep longing for her own mother. Kurt Herrmann, Gerda's cousin, escaped to the United States joined its army's intelligence corps and visited his former hometown in Germany in search of his parents. He later discovered that they too perished at Auschwitz. Edith Twelkemeyer Forrester, Kurt's cousin, was evacuated to Scotland at age seven on a Kindertransport, a desperate step many Jewish people took to save their children. Edith never saw her parents again. She was adopted by a Scottish couple, and at the age of 14 discovered the truth about her parents' fate. They had also died in Auschwitz.