1955 in New York City, the city of progress, of instant coffee, the Brooklyn Dodgers, bagels and bialys at Katz's Deli. But in a 3rd floor walk up in Chelsea, in the Perlman residence, the past is as close as the present. Rachel Perlman, a child of Berlin and an artist, bearing the legacy of her mother's talent, arrives in New York as part of the wave of Jewish Displaced persons who managed to survive the brutalities of the war. Accompanied by her only relative, her Uncle Fritz, Rachel hopes to find asylum from her pain in the States and in the arms of her new American husband. But despite her efforts, Rachel is unable to live the "normal" life of an American housewife, not until she can shake the ghosts of her past or the tremendous guilt that weighs down on her, triggered by a horrific secret, a choice she was forced to make in order to stay alive during the war. Then Rachel's Uncle Fritz discovers, in a dreary pawn shop, a lost painting of Rachel's mother, and Rachel's life is turned upside down. When the painting goes missing, Rachel's memories begin to terrorize her-- igniting a chain reaction that will force Rachel to face her own betrayal and her own "crime" of survival.
