The novel’s plot is recounted in alternating chapters, told from the perspectives of two librarians in two different eras: Jessie Carson during World War I and Wendy Peterson during the late 1980s. Each of them has a connection to the New York Public Library and to the work of a remarkable woman from whom little was expected.

During the Gilded Age, Anne Morgan, daughter of J. P. Morgan, banker and financier, led a very privileged life. However, she was aware of other people's lives and became a staunch crusader for better working conditions and benefits for everyone—especially for women. Even though she may have been regarded as a type of dilettante, she ignored snide comments and fought for what she believed in. One of her most important activities took place during World War I. She created an organization, the American Committee for Devastated France (Comité Américain pour les Régions Dévastées de France), aka CARD. Members called themselves Cards. Their main purpose was to help France recover from the devastation of World War I, and that help was based on women who volunteered to provide whatever services they could. The far-reaching effects of war are evident in the fact that more than 100 years after the end of World War I, one particular part of France, the Red Zone, is still defined as uninhabitable for humans.

Author Janet Skeslien Charles spent years researching and uncovering the relatively unknown history of some extraordinary women, several of who were awarded the Croix de Guerre medal. She has written a novel of historical fiction that beautifully weaves the lives of real and imagined people who worked endlessly under the most dire conditions and pays homage to what they achieved as volunteers. In addition, she skillfully evokes the realities of war and how those conditions can erode the determination of even the strongest individuals. One example was the work of Jessie "Kit" Carson, who changed the face and function of public libraries in France that endures to this day. Janet Skeslien Charles states: "One of my goals in writing this book was to show the courage of the Cards and how they remained until the people in the region were again self-sufficient. With American, British, Canadian, and French volunteers, there was an incredible exchange of knowledge. Thanks to their curiosity, generosity, and open-mindedness, Cards accomplished great things during and after World War I, in France and at home."