What if you were growing up in a war, with a best friend who has fled from the enemy for safety? To whom do you talk? And whom can you trust? And then in a zoo you discover a secret that you must never tell anyone. Imagine yourself in that same Dutch city, famous for its mouse and windmills, with your everyday life of bicycles, schools, visits, friends and parents. And then disaster strikes. The boots arrive. Who is on whose side? Who is brave and who not? And even if you make a little sense of it all, you are no longer a child, and growing up fast, and the very biggest question of all is coming your way... why?