An American journalist researches the notorious roundup of Parisian Jews and uncovers her French family's war-era secrets, in this page-turning, interconnected novel of modern-day Paris and occupied France Paris.

July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother, Michel, in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel'd'Hiv's 60th anniversary, Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connects her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.