Poland, 1939. Kadish is barely more than a boy when war breaks out. Forced to grow up fast, he takes it upon himself to provide for his family in the ghetto–stealing through the sewers under the cover of darkness to smuggle food and supplies back to his helpless parents and younger cousin Robbie, who’s always looked up to him.

After years of studying to realize his dream, James Rucker’s future explodes when he’s falsely accused of cheating on his final exams. Vowing he’s had enough, he joins a civil rights movement. But his trip to connect with the anarchists stops cold when his flight is struck by lightning and plummets into the ocean.

One hot, humid day in July 1944, the Gestapo abducted 15-year-old Henry and his mother, forcing them onto cramped cattle cars in the Łódź Polish Ghetto. Like so many Jews before them, they had been selected to disappear–they were being sent to Auschwitz. 

When the helicopter goes down after dropping them off, they realize they’re in trouble. The platform loses power. Cell phones don’t work. Everything electronic is dead. There are whispers of an EMP attack. Now that they’re stranded with a skeleton crew on a steel platform miles from shore, battered by massive waves, the deadly truth of their predicament slowly sinks in.

When beautiful, shy Edith married her elegant banker husband, Julius, she believed that their union would be forever. In spite of her humble background, they have loved each other since the minute they met at a dance. As she learns how to behave in the high-society world Julius has opened to her, she is determined to enjoy every moment. But the Nazi party is growing in power, and her marriage comes under increasing strain. Julius is of Jewish origin—and even some of Edith’s closest family believe their relationship is an abomination, demanding she divorce him.