Alan, a Jewish boy living in New York in 1944, loves playing stickball after school with his friends more than anything else in his world. Then, Naomi, a "crazy" girl, a Jewish refugee from France, moves into his building. When his parents ask him to spend time with Naomi after school, Alan does so with great reluctance. The two begin an unlikely, deep friendship that bolsters the fragile Naomi, challenges Alan's sense of self and almost breaks through the horror of Naomi's unspeakable war-time experience. At times very funny, most often very sad, this historical novel poignantly portrays the magnificence and limits of one effort to face down the violence of racism and war.