The year is 1991. Eritrea is on the verge of liberation from Ethiopian rule, and in Washington, D.C.’s tight-knit Eritrean community, change is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Lydia and her family are grappling with what peace after decades of war might mean for their future, just as they welcome Berekhet --- a distant cousin newly arrived from Ethiopia to attend medical school in the States. With him comes a barrage of new ideas that Lydia must confront for the first time, about the stories of nationhood and family she was raised on. Meanwhile, her mother, Elsa, a former rebel fighter, and the family matriarch, Mama Zewdi, must grapple with regrets long buried in the time their country has been at war.