Life in Communist Romania in 1988 becomes increasingly dangerous for sixteen-year-old Adriana Nicu as she and her friend Gabi seek answers to a forty-year-old mystery. Their mission: find an old wardrobe intended to be a Jewish family's way of escape from the Nazis, and maybe-just maybe-find out what happened to the family after they disappeared.

In her quest for the truth, Adriana must learn who to trust as she navigates her ever-changing world-where ordinary citizens become spies and informants, either for the all-powerful Securitate or for the growing Resistance. Confronted with evil she can hardly imagine, Adriana loses hope-until an old Jewish man and her banned books offer her a path through the dark.