A young girl is transported from her modern life into the harrowing reality of a 1942 Polish concentration camp during a Passover Seder. Hannah Stern, tired of her family's focus on the past, finds herself thrust into the body of a village girl named Chaya, where she must endure the brutal conditions of the Holocaust. She faces the constant threat of the Nazis while struggling to maintain her identity and memory of the future. The narrative utilizes a blend of contemporary perspective and historical trauma to explore the weight of ancestral memory.

This work is widely recognized as a standard text for introducing younger readers to the complexities of the Holocaust through a speculative lens. The narrative is frequently praised for its ability to bridge the gap between modern indifference and historical gravity. Readers often note that the time-slip mechanism provides a necessary distance that makes the subject matter accessible without diminishing its severity. The book remains a staple in educational settings for its clear thematic focus on the necessity of memory.