Seven-year old Stepha and his little brother Vanya never mistook their Russian village of Unkurda for Eden, but after the Communist revolution in 1917, they found Hell. The two were among the millions of children cast adrift by a succession of soul crushing events. War, revolution, epidemic, and starvation, all conspire to force even the youngest of them to mature beyond their years. The brothers, armed only with the memories of their dead mother and absent father, vow to do more than just survive. They swear a blood oath to reach their dream or die trying. Their dream—a far off place they know only as America.