In this Holocaust story based on real events and passed from the narrator to her niece, the author-illustrator herself, Patricia Polacco once again celebrates the shared humanity of the peoples of this world.

Ever since the Nazis marched into Monique's small French village, terrorizing it, nothing surprises her. That is, until the night Monique encounters a little ghost sitting at the end of her bed. She turns out to be a Jewish girl named Sevrine who has been hiding from the Nazis in Monique's basement. Playing after dark, the two become friends. But when they are discovered, both of their families must embark on a nighttime flight. And Monique can only hope that the freedom of the butterflies in her garden will reach Sevrine as well.