Picture a little girl in a field of tall grass and wild flowers, her little dog by her side, her body warmed by the mellow sun. Little Vivi is four years old in the picture of the cover. The world is still safe. She's in the garden of her grandparents' villa on the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary, the only home she's ever known, among loving people, her mother, her best friend, her nanny, her uncle. The first of September 1939 she enters first grade almost at the same instant the German Army invades the not too distant Poland. Unbeknownst to her life is changed forever. World War II has begun. At first slowly, almost imperceptably, life begins to change; then come bombings, German occupation and another threat, that of the Soviet Army approaching the eastern border. In the Fall of 1944 her mother and stepfather and the little girl leave the capitol for another city only to encounter more severe bombings, a reign of terror and human suffering while life in a surreal way still goes on and children manage to find fun in spite of it all.

The three flee the country to Austria. At last the war is over. Yet years of uncertainty await them. Not until March of 1950 when they arrive in the United States do they find what is considered a normal life.

But it isn't all gloom and doom. Amusing situations, pleasurable times happen even in the harshest times. Time marches on and the little girl is growing up. She learns languages, reads a lot of books, and discovers boys.