The Martel family joins a Nazi-led refugee caravan and flees west from Friedenstal to escape Soviet rule.

Emil spots Major Haussmann directing traffic near the caravan and becomes so anxious he vomits.

Soviet planes bomb the road near the caravan, and the Martels race across a bridge into Moldova to escape.

Emil meets Nikolas, a fellow refugee who admits to helping Nazi soldiers murder Jewish people to earn his place in the caravan.

At the Romanian border, Major Haussmann forces Emil to swear a loyalty oath to Adolf Hitler.

At the Oradea train station, refugees are ordered to abandon their wagons and horses and take only what they can carry.

Rese falls from the moving refugee train and has both lower legs severed by the wheels.

The Martel family arrives at an Immigration Control Center in Poland and is placed under quarantine.

Major Haussmann takes Emil to an open field, fires two warning shots beside him, and threatens further punishment for his family.

A feverish Emil relives flashbacks revealing that Major Haussmann once ordered him to shoot three young Jewish people.

Polish militiamen arrest Emil and hand him over to the Soviets; he urges Adeline to take the boys west.

Emil and other German prisoners arrive in Poltava, Ukraine, where they are forced to rebuild the bombed city.

Emil seizes a chance at a railyard and hides in a coal hopper car on a westbound train, escaping Poltava.

Adeline receives a letter from the International Red Cross confirming Emil is alive in a displaced persons camp in Alfeld.

Emil waits anxiously at the Alfeld train station and is finally reunited with Adeline, Walt, and Will.

The story follows Emil and Adeline Martel as they join a Nazi-led refugee caravan fleeing Soviet-controlled Ukraine, navigating artillery attacks and the menacing presence of Major Haussmann along the way. After being forced to abandon their possessions, they travel by train through Romania and Hungary to Poland, where tragedy and continued danger await. A dark secret from Emil's past involving Major Haussmann shadows the family throughout their journey in Poland, growing more threatening as Emil falls gravely ill. Emil is ultimately arrested by Polish militiamen and transported to a Soviet labor camp in Poltava, Ukraine, leaving Adeline to survive alone in East Germany with their sons. After staging a daring escape, Emil makes his way to the British Zone in West Germany, and Adeline risks everything to cross the border with Walt and Will so the family can be reunited.

The Martels' escape from Ukraine to freedom.

Stalin's secret police arrest Adeline's father Karl on charges of hoarding grain and send him to a Siberian prison.

A starving Emil steals a garbage can from a Communist party leader's alley after nearly dying of hunger in Birsula.

Adeline meets Emil for the first time when she buys firewood from him outside Mrs. Kantor's house.

Adeline and Emil's eight-week-old son Waldemar dies after Karoline drinks the cream set aside to nourish him.

Corporal Gheorghe tells the Martel family about walking unharmed through enemy fire at Stalingrad, crediting God's direct protection.

Adeline secretly travels to Odessa and retrieves forged identity papers for her Jewish friend Esther, hiding them in Will's baby sling.

The Martel caravan crosses the border into Romania, and Adeline bows her head in silent thanks to God for their survival.

The refugees arrive in Budapest and set up camp among the crypts of a cemetery while awaiting a northbound train.

Rese delivers a stillborn baby after her accident on the train, and Karoline refuses to acknowledge the infant, blaming Rese's sins.

At the Immigration Control Center, refugees are stripped, deloused, given new clothes, and fed an enormous welcoming feast.

Adeline finds a Jewish Bible under the kitchen floorboards and learns their Wielun apartment and clothes came from murdered Jewish residents.

Adeline runs into Esther in Lodz, and Esther gives her a large sum of money to repay the old debt.

Both of Marie's infant twin sons die during the walk toward Germany, and a grief-stricken Marie climbs into a Soviet soldiers' truck and begins drinking.

Adeline accepts a job cooking for Soviet officer Colonel Vasiliev and adds her name to the International Red Cross missing-persons list.

The Martels settle in Montana's Gallatin Valley, which Adeline believes God painted for her as the green valley she always sought.

This pool traces the formative events behind the Martels' story, from the childhood hardships of Stalin's purges to small acts of courage and compassion scattered across their journey west. Flashbacks reveal how Emil and Adeline first met and the devastating early losses that hardened them for the ordeal ahead, including the death of their first infant son. Secondary characters like Corporal Gheorghe, Esther, and Marie each illuminate the novel's themes of faith, moral compromise, and the bonds that sustain people through war. As the journey continues, the refugees face mounting revelations about their complicity in Nazi violence, particularly when Adeline discovers that their new apartment once belonged to murdered Jewish families. The pool ends with the Martels finally reaching Montana, where Adeline recognizes the Gallatin Valley as the beautiful green valley she spent years dreaming of finding.

Hidden memories and secondary struggles that shaped the Martels.

Emil tells Adeline they must flee west with the Nazi army or face certain death or imprisonment under Stalin.

The Martels' wagon becomes trapped between Soviet and German tanks exchanging fire during a fierce snowstorm.

Emil ambushes Nikolas near the Budapest camp and threatens to kill him if he continues harassing the family.

A young nurse arrives on the refugee train to help Rese, and Adeline realizes the woman is her cousin Marie.

Rese regains consciousness in the boxcar and learns for the first time that both her lower legs and her newborn baby are gone.

Major Haussmann leads the entire refugee crowd, including the Martel family, in repeated Nazi salutes at the immigration camp.

Nikolas approaches Emil outside the latrines at night and warns him that Major Haussmann now recognizes who Emil is.

Sergeant Wahl lets Emil listen to the BBC on a hidden shortwave radio, and Emil persuades Adeline to plan their escape west.

A flashback reveals Emil was marched to a Nazi mass murder site and ordered to shoot three young Jewish victims to prove loyalty.

A flashback reveals Lieutenant Colonel Nosske arrived and stopped Emil from pulling the trigger; a man named Helmut shot the three victims instead.

Johann, Karoline, and Rese choose to return to Friedenstal rather than attempt the dangerous journey west with Adeline and the boys.

Emil is reunited with Corporal Gheorghe in Poltava, who argues that God's hand was present the night Emil refused to shoot.

Captain Kharkov follows Adeline to the Lutheran church and attempts to assault her; Adeline draws a knife and drives him away.

Soviet secret police officer Lieutenant Gerhardt pressures Adeline to spy on Colonel Vasiliev and warns her the border is closing fast.

While recovering from surgery in Lütgenholzen, Emil finally tells Adeline the complete truth about his encounter with Major Haussmann in Dubossary.

This pool focuses on the pivotal choices and shocking discoveries that drive the narrative, beginning with Emil's fateful argument that the family must flee west with the Nazis or face certain death under Stalin. Key turning points include Emil's secret confrontation with Nikolas, the family's unwilling participation in Nazi rituals, and the slow revelation of the wartime massacre Emil witnessed in Dubossary. The arrest of Emil at Legnica marks the story's emotional breaking point, as Adeline and Emil must each find the courage to survive separately and keep faith alive. Emil's reunion with Corporal Gheorghe in Poltava ignites a spiritual transformation that drives his escape, while Adeline's resolve is tested by a sexual assault and Soviet surveillance in occupied East Germany. The pool closes with Emil finally confessing the full truth about Dubossary to Adeline, bringing the emotional arc of the novel to its long-awaited resolution.