The author relates the story of her mother, Ruth Guggenheim Nivola, her grandparents and aunt, who were forced to flee Germany for Italy in 1933. Ruth leaves her beloved doll Elisabeth behind in Germany. Ruth's family immigrated to New York in 1939 and settled in Amagansett, Long Island, a seashore town. Here years later, with a young daughter of her own (the author), Ruth is reunited with Elisabeth. Elisabeth has now passed to Claire's daughter.