1944. When the war comes to twelve-year-old Agnes’ village her life changes in an instant. Her father is dragged away by soldiers and her mother is mercilessly killed, leaving Agnes and her younger brother Dieter orphaned. Frightened, and surrounded by enemies, Agnes has no choice but to carry out her mother’s dying wish: to look after her brother. But when Dieter’s hand slips from her own while crossing a river, the rest of Agnes’s world shatters in an instant. Cambridge, present day. When her beloved grandfather dies, Freya is distraught. But when Freya meets her new neighbor Agnes, whose accent is just like her grandfather’s, she notices a weather-beaten image of a little blond boy in braces and boots that looks strangely familiar… Could Agnes hold the key to unlocking Freya’s past?