Inspired by a news report of the discovery of the escape tunnel at the site of the Vilna ghetto, the play tells the story of Motke Zeidel and Yudi Farber from the ages of 11 through 28, who come of age in the city of Vilna during its degradation in the years before World War II and its destruction during the war. As the home they knew collapses, they face painful moral choices to save others while putting their own lives at risk.