The Heart that Searched, the Heart that Found

While young Yael looks for her identity, her great-aunt Ruzina, a former partisan, takes us back to the landscape where she fought during World War II.

Yael wonders about her feelings for Dudu. Is he worthy of her love? Much to her surprise, Great-Aunt Ruzina invites her to go with her to Slovakia to find her family roots. Yael and Ruzina travel to the Tatra Mountains where Ruzina fought against the Nazis. Ruzina tells Yael how her father died in a labor camp and her mother was beaten to death. At age 16, Ruzina fell in love with Aronko, a young man with contacts in the Slovakian underground. In 1944, the young people escaped from the camp, fled to the forests and organized themselves into groups of Jewish partisans. Ruzina participated in sabotage missions in which many partisans were killed, including Aronko. Yael matures during the trip. She understands that what she feels for Dudu is not true love.