After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice.

In the autumn of 1846 in Ireland, twelve-year-old Lorraine and her family struggle to survive the Irish potato famine, but when Lorraine meets Miss Susannah, the daughter of the wealthy English landowner who owns Lorraine's family's farm, they form an unlikely friendship that they must keep secret due to the deep cultural divide between their two families.