Mrs. Hartwig amazes her students and colleagues alike with her wealth of stories from around the world. Where do you find them? they ask. She gives them simple answers but the truth is a secret she keeps until her death. Her favorite niece discovers the secret when she is sorting through Mrs. Hartwig's things, and it lies in thousands and thousands of pages of her aunt's writing. It is a story unlike any other — and one that changes her life forever.