SYNOPSIS:

Stefania is a strong-willed Polish Jew who owned a business before World War Two. After the Nazi occupation, she is moved, along with all Warsaw Jews, into a newly formed Ghetto. With the help of the Polish underground, Stefania pays to have her sons smuggled out of Warsaw. She feels this solution will be better for her boys as it will give them a better chance to survive. She is then recruited to help the underground smuggle out more Jewish children. It becomes her job--and then her passion--to talk parents into smuggling out their kids. Paulina Tempel is a young, naïve, and pregnant Jewish farmer’s wife who is brought to Warsaw from a small town outside of Warsaw. After the Germans kill her husband, she brings to Warsaw all that she has left in life, her son, Henryk. She believes she will never part with Henryk. Even being forced to part with him to go to her new job is a struggle. Henryk is all she has left. Paulina is assigned to live with Stefania in a Warsaw apartment. Stefania and Paulina realize they are very different and do not get along. Stefania tries to persuade Paulina to smuggle out her son, but Paulina refuses. Stefania advises Paulina to hide her pregnancy. Stefania is getting a lot of children smuggled out of the Ghetto. She is gaining a reputation among the Jews. The Nazis also begin to notice. The powers that be in Warsaw assign a "Jew Hunter" named Captain Schmidt. Schmidt is the perfect Nazi who wants very badly to advance in the ranks. He has a dream of being a high-ranking Nazi. He has a job to do and he takes his job very seriously. He brings along his son, Rolf Jr., a sixteen-year-old Nazi-in-training. Deep down inside Rolf Jr. doesn't like his father's job, nor is he very comfortable around his father. Rolf doesn't want to be "the perfect Nazi." It's not so much political, he simply abhors killing anyone. Schimdt is aware of his son's "shortcomings." He knows he'll have to lean on the boy often in order to "whip him into shape." Life worsens inside the Ghetto when Captain Schmidt assembles Jews in the street and forces adults to turn themselves in if they are smugglers—sacrificing their lives—in exchange for saving the lives of children. Captain Schmidt forces his son, Rolf Jr., to do the killing. Rolf reluctantly does as he is told. Stefania is about to turn herself in but is stopped by members of the underground. Paulina fears for Henrykʼs life, but he is safely returned to her. Immediately after this horrific incident, Paulina tells Stefania that she's going to turn her in, she feels Stefania is endangering them all. She leaves the apartment, but leaves Henryk behind. After Paulina leaves, Stefania kidnaps Henryk. She takes him straight to the Jewish hospital, the usual smuggling point, and pays for the underground to take the boy. In the meanwhile, Pauline returns to the apartment with a Jewish policeman only to find Stefania and Henryk missing. She wants to leave in order to search for Henryk, but she is stopped by two members of the underground. An hour later, the Jewish policeman helps her escape. She rushes to the hospital, but she's too late, Henryk is gone. She confronts Stefania just as bombs explode nearby. During the chaos, a member of the underground smuggles the women out together into the sewers. The smuggler has now been smuggled. While in hiding throughout the non-Ghetto parts of Warsaw, Stefania struggles to continue her operation. Can she continue her work under ever-increasing pressure and danger? And, can she make amends to Paulina for kidnapping her son? And, finally, is she really doing the best thing for the children of Warsaw? The women live together throughout the non-Ghetto parts of Warsaw; in the sewers, behind a bathroom wall in a Polish home, and in two different basements of Polish homes. Paulina eventually begins to soften toward Stefania as the two build a friendship. Paulina has to ask for Stefaniaʼs help—to smuggle out her newborn to safety. When her baby is gone, Paulina joins Stefania full time. They return to the Ghetto and escape before a German assault. While on the move, Stefania gets lured into a trap by smuggler-hunter Captain Schmidt. She is about to be shot by Schmidt, but instead gets saved. Not by Paulina, but by Rolf Jr., who impulsively kills his hated father. At the end of the war, the women try to put their lives back together. Their top mission is to locate their children. But, can any of them be located?

WARSAW