Lodz, Poland, 1944. Teenaged Henia Rosenfarb sits with her family in a small, secret room, hiding from the Nazi soldiers who are looking for them. Little can the fiery redhead imagine the path her life will take, from wartime Poland to contemporary Canada. Hoping to elude the net that tightens around her as World War II advances, Henia makes two promises to herself: the first is that she will one day travel to Paris, and the second, that she will become a teacher. Supported by her family and by her commitment to the Bund, a political movement dedicated to social justice, Henia keeps her focus on those promises. These "bits and pieces" of her life give us a glimpse of a tumultuous past and a faith in the future.