The story takes place in the war-torn Sarajevo. Amela and her father live in an area exposed to constant enemy attacks. Her father is ill, and the mother left the family taking with her the younger child. Ten-year-old Amela does all the chores; she collects firewood in dangerous areas to cook and to heat water to bathe her father. The school is closed during the summer but Amela does not have time to play with her friends; she has to fetch water, and do the laundry by the river. Amela finds solace in her two guinea pigs, the inseparable friends for whom she always finds some time, reminding us all of the fact that her childhood can't be taken away from her.