This is the story of a Finnish family during World War II, combining a gripping correspondence between the author's parents, who were separated by the war, with the interspersed memories of the author, who was their youngest child. While her father was at the front fighting the Soviets, her mother moved the family around the country, ending up on a farm on the Arctic Circle, trying to keep her daughters safe from Russian bombs. Finland sued for peace with the Soviet Union in 1944, which made them enemies of the Germans, who had a standing army of 200,000 men in Finnish Lapland. War broke out with Germany, and the author's family managed in the nick of time to flee to Sweden. Throughout this historic drama are a tapestry of letters and family stories, along with the touching voice of the little girl Stina, whose observations, reflections, and worries move the reader along to the dramatic conclusion.