Gittel is a young Jewish girl, who came from Kishinev, Bessarabia in 1911 after being run out of her home, bringing her to the quaint, little country town of Little Creek, Michigan for a better life. Unfortunately, Gittel gets bullied for her Jewish religion, and school becomes the only place she really feels like a normal, happy girl. After losing her dear Zayde, Gittel tries to stay happy and rise up just as Zayde used to say. However, school only goes to eighth grade, and once she finishes, she has nothing else to help her rise up other than her Emily Dickinson poems.
