Eleven‑year‑old Julie Braun grows up on the verdant mountain pastures of Southern Tyrol in Austria. After her parents are killed by Italian soldiers, she is taken to Vienna to live with her relatives, the Clementes. There she becomes friends with cousins Johan and Tanya, though she finds it difficult to adjust to life with Uncle Karl and Aunt Klara. As Austria is drawn into World War I, Karl loses his job at a glass factory, and the Clementes are thrust into a life of hardship.