The first chapter of the book starts with Tsura, walking in the city of Berlin in 1943. As she approaches the U-Bahn station, Tsura hands a Nazi her false papers with ‘Greta’ in bold letters printed at the top. Tsura never feels afraid to talk to the Nazis. She continues to walk and meets up with someone codenamed Seraph who hands her a gun and gives a warning about the roundups of Jews coming to Berlin. Tsura grows frightened because she realizes that her people-the Roma-might be next. But she now feels safer with the gun in her pocket.

    

     Meanwhile, Alex walks through the streets, passing Nazi soldiers and trying to avoid them until he arrives at a shop. He explains to the old shopkeeper that somebody named Paul Boeske sent him. Alex gets ready to take his photo and feels older than seventeen in his tie and jacket that he borrows. While waiting for the pictures, he finds that no London guidebooks exist or British map books in the travel section. Alex grumbles, “They’ve burned all the good stuff.” He then sees a miniature porcelain train in the shop with one engine and five carriages behind it. Although slightly cracked, the train remains beautiful. Alex decides to buy it for his sister, Ruth, as a birthday gift. Alex plans on escaping Berlin tomorrow and leaving his family behind. He has an opportunity to go to another place in order to escape the roundup of the Jews.

    

     Next, in a cathedral, Alex’s sister, Ruth, prepares for confession. Ruth doesn’t want to be at the cathedral, but her mother always reminds her that birthdays mean new beginnings. Ruth wants the war to end, so this gives her an even bigger reason to repent for her sins. Ruth steps into the confession box, thinking that she’d rather spend time at school. Father von Wegberg wishes her a good morning, then asks her to share what’s on her mind. Ruth forgets the list of sins she prepared to recite and instead reveals to him that she went looking for her birthday cake last night and tasted the icing. Father von Wegberg says that she might be accused of gluttony, which Ruth finds funny. He then asks her if she has more confessions, and Ruth thinks about the time, earlier in the week, when her teacher asked her to share her views on the justifications of Germany’s war. She hadn’t told the truth, because, “Nobody can speak the truth anymore.” She doesn’t say this to Father von Wegberg, however, and steps out of the box. She and her mother walk outside as Ruth shows her excitement that her best friend, Elise, will accompany her to her birthday dinner that evening and then on her real birthday tomorrow. Looking forward to her brother Alex’s annual treasure hunt, she and her mom get lunch.

    

     Next, Elise explains that she always ruins everything. Every year, Elise goes over to her best friend Ruth's house to celebrate her birthday. This year, however, she must break the news to Ruth that she can’t spend the night with her, but will be there in the morning. Every day, Elise wakes up, cleans the house, cooks, goes to school, and afterward goes to her Girls League meeting. At the meeting, the girls sing their pledges to Adolf Hitler and learn embroidery. Presently, as Elise is walking home, she walks through the market to get some food for dinner. While walking, she sees a white man and a black man fighting over a bag. Elise has heard from her mom, and in Girls League, that black people are dangerous, so immediately she wants to help the white man. The fight terrifying her, Elise makes a small noise that prompts the black man to turn around, giving the white man a split-second advantage, and he stabs the black person with his knife. He tells her to run, and together they sprint away from the market. Elise thinks he’s attractive, which makes her really frazzled, and she ends up telling him a lot about herself-but she realizes after that she never really found out anything about him.

    

     Then, we see Marko’s (the white man whom Elise had helped) side of the story. Marko sees a bag in the middle of the market. The women whom it belonged to got arrested, and Marko wants to get it for himself. Just before he can get it, however, a black boy runs up to it and snatches it up. Marko chases after him, explaining that he had seen it first, so it would be only fair to split the contents of the bag. The boy refuses which soon leads into a full-blown fight, which he wins with the help of Elise. Marko, leaving Berlin, explains how he will give some of his new food from the bag to his little cousin, named Kizzy.

 

     Kizzy, a Roma and the final main character introduced in this chapter, lives with her guardian, Professor Duerr. Kizzy has big dreams but no one knows this about her. While helping Professor Duerr get some tea, she realizes that Professor Duerr would not wake up to drink. Panic fills Kizzy’s head. Although she can hear Professor Duerr breathing, Kizzy knows she needs help. She needs to find Tsura.