While escaping Nazis during World War II, a Jewish man buries in the ground two suitcases full of things dear to his heart.

She finds a place as a nanny in a strictly observant Hasidic family with many children, although her secular manners clearly fly in the face of their beliefs.

The entire family, including Chaya, applauds his efforts, but his judgmental father does not recognize this great step but, instead, criticizes the boy for a mistake.

Chaya confronts the father and, in the process, discovers his own pain as a Holocaust survivor and begins to understand her own parents' grief.

As an act of acceptance, his mother rips Chaya's shirt, which is a sign of a mourner (a sibling, parent, child or spouse of the deceased) in Jewish tradition.