What is plot summary?

The novel is set in wartime Poland after the invasion by the German army. The Poles put up a strong defense of their country but were overcome by the army of the Reich. Once the army invaded, the Germans demanded from the Poles the same respect and adoration of Adolf Hitler that they required from their own people; it was contravening this demand and turning Hitler's picture to the wall that led to Joseph Balicki’s imprisonment. Within an hour of their mother being taken away by the Germans, the Balicki children—Edek, Ruth, and Bronia—were without their parents and their home, since the Germans burned it to the ground. By sticking together as a family (and taking on an adopted brother, the incorrigible Jan) and focusing on the day when they would reach Switzerland and be reunited with their parents, the children undertake a seemingly impossible journey through three countries.