Desta, a young girl who has only ever lived in America, begins to understand some of the conflicting loyalties of the immigrant experience when her father has to make a trip to Ethiopia after his mother falls ill. He tells Desta stories about his youth and she realises how much he must miss his old home. E.B. Lewis's illustrations deftly juxtapose these two worlds as the young girl muses on the scenes conjured up by her father's memories.