Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, Parvana must search for her family. Masquerading as a boy, her journey becomes even more perilous whn war breaks out.

On a military base in post-Taliban Afghanistan, American authorities have just imprisoned a teenaged girl found in a bombed-out school. The army major thinks she may be a terrorist working with the Taliban. The girl does not respond to questions in any language and remains silent, even when she is threatened, harassed and mistreated over several days. The only clue to her identity is a tattered shoulder bag containing papers that refer to people named...