The book begins in medias res with its protagonists en route to Warsaw, Poland, to meet Irena Sendler. Liz Cambers, one of the founders of the project, and the first of the students to find the story of Irena Sendler, is thinking of the unlikeliness of the trip, both because of her background and because of her companions, including Megan, “as different from her as moonlight from sunlight” (1). Liz considers the concept of legacy and how a simple school project had developed into one that held Irena’s legacy in their hands. She also thinks about the related meaning of legacy and sacrifice for her, as her own mother had given her up, as well, albeit under different circumstances.

Liz’s mother, an addict, left her when she was only 5; she didn’t say goodbye, and she never returned. Her father was deemed unfit to care for her, so after some time in the foster care system, she came to live with her grandparents. Her father lived nearby but rarely visited; she was raised by her grandparents “in a modest house in Mapleton, a farming community of less than a hundred in Southeastern Kansas” (3).