Twelve-year-old Tasha and six-year-old Irina have nothing in common -except for the fact they shared a hospital room in Russia. Yet, somehow their differences -including a language barrier -isn't what Tasha recalls when she returns home to Ohio. She remembers the kind and compassionate orphan girl, recovering from her cleft palate surgery, who helped her through her pain of not just healing from her appendectomy but also her grieving. Now home, Tasha must find a way to help Irina get adopted before she is forever sent to a place where finding a home would no longer be an option. But how can she possibly help her new friend from another country when she couldn't even save her own brother?