"I can simply leave, I thought. Either you go a little way, or you go all the way, or you stay." A young woman contemplates leaving. With her son, a green hippopotamus, and a small dog, she leaves Germany and travels from Berlin to France. The country she arrives in welcomes her with swaying stars and silvery rows of trees in the evening light. She finds much here. Both small and large. Birgit Vanderbeke tells a story of farewell and welcome, of the everyday nature of fear, and of a new life...