One day in August 1939, twelve-year-old Steffi and her eight-year-old sister Nelli get off the train at Gothenburg Central Station. They have been forced to leave their parents and their hometown of Vienna and are now refugees.
Steffi starts at the educational institution in Gothenburg and moves in with the doctor and the female doctor. Son Sven also lives in the house, whom Steffi is slowly starting to like.
Finally some happy news. Steffi's and Nelli's parents have received permission to enter the USA. But getting the whole family to reunite is more difficult than expected.
Steffi leaves the doctor and the female doctor and moves in with her friend Maj's large, lively family. Steffi frequently writes letters to her parents, who are in concentration camps, but the letters are beginning to be returned.
Steffi's friend Maj is visiting on the island. She suggests that Sunday's collection should go to Steffi and Nelli's parents, who are in a concentration camp. But first Steffi and Aunt Märta have to persuade the priest.
It is May 1945 and finally peace in Europe. Steffi walks the streets of Gothenburg, which are full of cheering people. She and her friend Judith head to the Jewish congregation to search for her relatives.
Steffi and her friend Judith cycle to a hospital in Uddevalla, where they received people from the concentration camps. There, Steffi meets a man who claims to have been in the same camp as her father.
